Evanescence: No More Dreams
by CoRpAsItE
Summary: The final chapter of my story-arc started with No End in Sight to My Nightmare! Umbrella has survived the onslaught wrought by their development and use of Fusion. The next generation must take up the fight if they are to stop the past from repeating itself. But can the past truly stay dead with Umbrella toying with the power of God? The final hurrah of the survivors begins here.
1. It All Starts the Same

Evanescence: No More Dreams: It All Starts the Same

Countless explosions rock the ground three bruised and bleeding people are hiding upon. Screams and gunshots ring off, several of the bullets ricocheting off the tile of the small column a young redheaded woman is leaning against.

"Amii! What do we do now!?"

The woman glares at the two people across from her, the grenade launcher tight in her left hand, "Not much we can do! You got any grenades left Suki?"

The raven-haired woman frowns and holds up a small canister, "Just a smoker!"

_Shit_, curses the woman as she loads a grenade into the barrel, and then closes her treasured item.

"I've got a few…." mumbles the only male before her, then slides a bag toward Amii.

She grabs the bag, growls, and tosses the bag over her left shoulder, then propels herself out in the open, her sight set on the flying bag. Breathe in, breathe out, as the last bit of air leaves her red lips, she squeezes the trigger, days of fatigue suddenly disappearing in one true, peaceful moment.

_THWUMP!_ The grenade flies from the barrel, connects with the bag, then all is silent and bright. The entire room shakes and is filled with a thundering string of explosions. When all the dust and debris clears, the three worn warriors are left standing, squatting, and prone on the top of the column.

"Stracener!"

Amii turns around, "What!?"

The entire room turns white, then fades away, revealing the entire scene was fake, a very disgruntled man in military green fatigues standing before them with crossed arms, "You almost destroyed our training compound with your bullshit hero-stuff!"

The slender redhead stands up, dusts her legs off, and growls, "Well, you didn't leave me much choice! Surrounded… Outgunned… What did you expect me to do? Wave the white flag and point out where I'm most vulnerable!?"

She has her dad's mentality, if the grenade launcher wasn't much of a clue. Everyone knows her as Little Miss Dusty, though no one really knows who Dusty is. He's kind of a lost dream among all the confusion of the virus. Only people that really remember him are Amii's mom and Aunt Trudie…. _Or what's left of her…_

Amii tries not to think about the shell of a woman Aunt Trudie has become… Too much has happened to her, to the people around her… The event that almost killed the woman is still fresh in her mind… Trudie and Aya were just walking down the street, talking about life, since Trudie went her own way several years back, when Amii was twelve. All of a sudden, a shot rings out, and Aya drops, blood covering Trudie's left side. A sniper got her, right above the heart, almost fatal. Trudie didn't talk for three months after that, and has only spoken in small sentences every now and then since the incident. They caught the guy, a gun-for-hire paid for by Umbrella... Guy got away scot-free, that is until Amii found him….

She shakes the bad memory from her head, her mom is okay, still kicking butt down at the shooting range every Friday and Tuesday, "What did you just say to me, woman?"

The man is dropped faster than anyone thought possible, the butt of her launcher shoved in his throat, "Leave me alone. We accomplished the mission… ALL NINE TIMES. We're tired, pissed, and fucking hungry... You got me?"

By this point, everyone on the other side of the observation glass is staring, a few laughing, but most of them are awe-struck. The temper that flows through her veins having been made from her mother and father, both of which no one wanted to piss off. Amii drops the worn guns and straps onto the ground, and then walks off in a huff, food is nearby, and she wants some.

11

"Hey 'Mii," calls Sukie as she walks up to the redhead.

Amii drops her fork and looks up, a weary smile on her lips, "Yeah, Salem?"

Salem is what she calls Sukie, though no one is sure why, "What was all that about? I mean, you just completely flipped and took out our superior!"

"He," the redhead smiles, "got off lucky… Hey, take a look over there... See that guy, and that girl WAY over there?"

Salem's eyes wander to the mentioned people, "Yeah?"

"They're going out…."

Salem's fork falls limp in her fingers, "What? They don't even like each other…"

"Heh, that," Amii smirks again, "is what they want you to think Salem…"

"Wow… Hey, what about those two?" green eyes follow the fork to the two mentioned people.

"Hmm…" Amii interlaces her fingers and stares at them, "Meh… I think they're just fuck-buddies…"

An approving noise comes from Salem's side of the table, and then a scream rakes across everyone in the kitchen. Amii jumps up and grabs the handgun from her holster, pointing it toward the noise, her left eyebrow raised in anticipation.

A rough hand is dropped on her foot, "Down girl," the man takes a step forward and screams, "THAT IS EEEENOUGH!"

The screams die down, the new recruit lying prone on the table with hot sauce poured into an open wound on his right forearm. He rolls around, then stops as Commander Brice steps up on the bench and drops a boot on his chest. His blonde hair is spiked up, his blue eyes cutting into the recruit's soul.

"Go. Wash. Now." the soldier quickly rolls off the table and runs out of the cafeteria, a few chiding laughs following him.

After the doors shut, a scowl drops down onto the Commander's face, "You three. My office, NOW!"

Looking like beaten puppies, the three older soldiers solemnly walk toward Brice's office, but not before Amii gets in a few choice words, "Going after smaller game after what I did to you eh?"

One of them lunges at the smaller woman, but she quickly ducks out of the way, then trips the soldier. With a grunt, he finds himself face-first in a pile of banana pudding and steak. An uproar of laughter shakes the room as the three soldiers walk out, Brice at their heels, chewing them apart verbally.

Amii sits down on her bench and smiles at Salem, "Always a fun day with me around, isn't it?" Salem just shakes her head and sits down, and then the two women eat in shared silence.

11

"GET…. UP!"

Amii's green eyes pop open, a snarl adorning her face, a snarl that means certain pain for someone in the near future. That feeling subsides when she sees that it is the other person that shares the room with her and Salem, Tawny Anderling. The male stands between the two women, his Mohawk just a little disheveled, a frantic expression on his face.

"Wha..? It's 4 in the morning… We got the night off…" Salem grumbles and rolls back over.

"No, this is serious… Amii, it's your mom..."

He is pushed up against the wall before he can finish, "What!? What about my mom!? Tell me!"

Tawny coughs and hands her a phone, "She wants to talk to you….."

The entire room dies down, six pairs of eyes on the device in Amii's worn hands, "Mom?"

"Amii! It's good to hear from you… Didn't think Brice would ever put me through…." Aya's voice instantly calms the younger woman.

Amii smiles and turns from Salem and Tawny, "Hi mom… How are things back home? Aunt Trudie still doing okay?"

The line is silent, causing a wave of worry to cascade over the younger female, her green eyes looking at her two friends for help. She receives none, but her worry is set aside as her mother picks back up.

"Sorry, was trying not to drop my sandwich… Took me a good half hour to find the cheese… Trudie is fine... She's sitting in the back watching the forums for new Umbrella information… She's actually gotten a lot better since you sent her that rifle… She's almost beat me once or twice…"

The young redhead smiles and laughs a little, "How many times has she gone up there? Five hundred times?"

Aya laughs back, "No... Just twice… And she almost beat me both times… I feel kind of ashamed…"

Both women share a laugh before the tone turns serious within a heartbeat, "So... Anything new to report about Umbrella's movements?"

The elder sighs and the sound of an old recliner creaking back fills the line, "No… Just the commercials for their new line of skin creams and hand sanitizers… Anything around the base being mentioned?"

Amii sighs just like her mom and prepares to lie, but Aya catches on, "Don't lie to me young lady. We've raised you better than that. Now, what has been said?"

"Yes ma'am... Sorry. Nothing has been said really... Just random commotion of why we're preparing to take down a company that has helped so many people… I can't believe Umbrella has been able to cover up almost every single outbreak. I mean it's insane that so many people are still oblivious to how evil this company is…"

The door silently closes, leaving Amii and her mom alone….

11

"So… How are things with you and Nick?"

Salem scoffs and flicks the hair from her face, "I don't know what they've been telling you, but he's my brother…."

Tawny proceeds to reply, but is stopped by a very good-looking woman walking past, "Hmm… Not bad…."

The male stops and stares at Salem, "Di… Did you just say that?"

The black-haired woman looks around and shrugs, "Oh no… Don't tell me you're THAT far out of the loop… My god Tawn…"

Salem chuckles to herself and continues down the hall, not believing that Tawny didn't know she was a lesbian… The raven-haired woman slowly shakes her head, adjusts her jacket, and steps outside, the warm breeze soothing compared to the cold interior of the base. The small courtyard the young woman found herself in is usually devoid of all life, but for some reason, a single girl is sitting on the solitary bench, her legs draped over the armrest. Combat boots adorn her feet, but that is about all that shows her connection to the base she is in. The straps are loose, just dangling limply, only slightly swaying in the breeze. Her black hair was at one point thrown back in two separate ponytails, but now the bands have stretched, looking more like her hair is just parted slightly. Black-rimmed glasses lay rested at the tip of her nose, her dark brown eyes reading a Psychology book.

Over the dim howl of the wind, a single line reaches Salem's perked ears, "So… That's why they think I'm insane?"

The woman smiles to herself and begins to approach the stranger; her usual nervousness gone as she finally comes into full view of the relaxed female, "Um… Hello."

Her brown eyes flash open, her head immediately jolting up, "Who are you?"

Salem looks around and points to herself, "I'm Salem…"

She is examined from head to toe, the other lady nodding in satisfaction at what she sees, "Take a seat. I've seen you with the obnoxious redhead yes?"

Salem nods and promptly sits down in the space that the newcomer's legs once rested in, "Yes... That's Amii... She may be loud and kind of mean, but she has a heart of gold... You'll love her once you get to know her. As long as you stay on her good side..."

An approving grunt as the woman turns another page, "My name is Ayla. Was transferred here from London two days ago… I was brought in to do psychological exams on everyone here... But I seem to be stuck on one person…"

_Oh great… _Salem worries, _Maybe she's already found someone…_

Her worries are cast aside as Ayla continues, "I still can't figure out how someone as bipolar as that Hampton Brice is still leading this base…."

Salem covers her mouth and giggles uncontrollably, a weird feeling crawling over her as she laughs. Both of them continue talking as the sun slowly begins to rise, neither really bored of the others company.

11

"Hey! There you are! Didn't think you'd ever show up for breakfast!"

Salem sits down, a smile on her lips that hasn't left, "What you smilin' about kiddo?"

She just smiles wider and says, "I've met someone finally!"

Amii drops her spoon into her soggy cereal and blinks, "You woke up 4 hours ago… You met someone that fast?"

She nods and holds up a small piece of paper that reads, "Ayla... Room 7 Wing Q… Holy sh… That's awesome Salem!"

Tawny continues eating, the headphones over his ears the reason for his lack of involvement in the conversation, "~yeah, you know the way I like it!~"

Both women stop and look over at him, then both begin to laugh loudly, "Oh my god! Was that a…? It was, wasn't it? Wow Tawny… That's… Wow…"

He takes the headphones off and replies, "What?"

Salem shakes her head, "Nothing!"

Amii agrees, "Nothing at all…"

Suddenly an unfamiliar voice cuts in, "You were singing a girly-song out loud."

Tawny's face turns beet red as he quickly picks up his tray and runs out the cafeteria, the three women now laughing.

"Ayla! So glad you could make it this morning!" Salem jumps up and motions for her friend to sit down with her.

Ayla drops down, a pair of green eyes locking with brown. Amii quickly examines Ayla, while Ayla promptly does the same with Amii. Both nod and grunt approvingly, then they both look at each other in disbelief.

"You have a problem with loyalty issues…."

Amii glares and her appearance darkens, "It runs in the family…" she turns to Salem, "So this is the lovely Ayla huh? You never told me she was so upfront….."

Salem just giggles and shrugs, "What can I say? At least she's honest…"

Amii nods and quickly offers her hand to Ayla, "I'm Amii Stracener. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ayla nods and shakes her hand, "Same on this side of the table, but I'm just Ayla."

"Ah... No last name eh? Mystery woman…" all three laugh at the joke as the loud conversation of the cafeteria picks up again, their conversation lost amongst the hundreds of others.

11

"So… What is so special about her?" Amii slowly sips her slushy as she and Salem walk down the hall to their shared room.

Salem smiles and looks up at her friend, "I had never clicked in so instantly with somebody until I talked to her… She's really added a lot to me..."

The redhead smiles and nods, "My mom said the same thing happened to her and my dad when they met… That kind of attraction is rare y'know?"

Salem's smile widens and she begins to blush, "Quit it 'Mii…"

"What?" Amii laughs, "I'm serious... That Ayla is a keeper... Your mood has pretty much done a 180 since you met her! She's good for you!"

Both of the women laugh and close the door to their room, while across the hall, Tawny has some problems of his own….

11

"What do you mean you're not physically attracted to me? I thought we were doing so well?"

The woman on the other end of the phone sighs and replies, "Look Tawny... You're nice and all... I'm in love with your mind… But there's nothing there that I'm physically attracted to with you… I'm sorry…"

Tawny growls and closes his cell phone, "Bitch…."

11

"Yo! Tawny! How's it going?" Amii slides halfway into her seat at their usual table.

The male she was addressing just twirls his spoon through his cereal and grumbles.

A slender red eyebrow is raised at this, "What?"

"She left me Amii… She left me…" his sadness just drools onto the table and his breakfast.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry Tawn! What happened?"

"She," he sighs and takes a bite of his toast, "told me I just wasn't what she was looking for... Nothing attracted her to me in person…."

"Bah!" Amii slams her palm on the table, "Who needs her? You'll find plenty other girls that'll find you perfect! Trust me!"

Tawny attempts at a smile, but his friend knows better, "Hah... You said that last time… When YOU broke up with me…"

Miss Stracener's heart sinks at the thought of that moment, it was horrible… Tawny really did start out like the perfect guy to her, but after a while, his personality just kind of changed on her... He became overly nosy and just wanted her to be with him at all times... Amii just can't handle someone like that... Maybe now she should tell him why they didn't work out?

Amii shakes her head slowly, "What? What are you shaking your head for?"

"Oh, nothing... Just thinking… Look Tawn… I'm sorry we didn't work out... But you just became too possessive of me… I felt like I had no life other than what you wanted me to do with you, you know? I'm sure that's what happened between you and her…" Amii attempts a small smile, then reaches out and places her hand on his.

"Thanks Amii... You seen the training schedule for today? We're first…."

"Yeah," something eats at the back of Amii's mind, "seems Brice wants us to show the rest of the base up huh?" that was not it.

**End**


	2. Just Another Nightmare

No More Dreams: Just Another Nightmare

"Tawny! Amii! Sukie! You're up!" screams Commander Brice as he flicks the power to the training room to full.

The three soldiers step in as the walls begin to waver and expand, slowly all the colors meld from white into varying shades, the sky darkening and slowly growing filled with stars. Soon the room they were in has transformed into a small town leaning on the edge of dilapidated… Windows are shattered almost everywhere, cars are on fire, and blood covers a lot of stuff in the general area. The smell of burning hair engulfs them, making Salem a little queasy. Amii slowly pulls out her handgun and chambers the first of many rounds into the barrel.

"Well… Seems Brice held true to his word and kicked it up a notch…."

Tawny shoots a glare at the redhead, "What!? We almost didn't make it out of the last one!"

"I know," Amii chuckles, "Tawny… That's why I had him kick it up… I want to leave this one bleeding in many places…."

Salem glances down at her watch and sighs, "Well, he gave us a twenty minute deadline to clean the town…. Better get moving…."

All three sigh in defeat as the weight of the deadline crashes down on them, Amii taking the first words, "Great... Well, at this point… Divide and conquer… Final Action… Take 'em out guys!"

Salem tightens the grip on her gun and jogs down Altas Avenue, Tawny runs down Barcelona, while Amii heads promptly down Front.

_I hope this was the right decision…_

11

"What the fuck was that, Salem!? You brought that Hunter back to US!"

Salem's face turns red and she pushes Tawny against the wall, "SHUT UP YOU! If it wasn't for you DEMANDING we come save you, I wouldn't have dragged it back to you!"

"Guys…" Amii leans against the wall.

"I swear to god if you pull one more stunt like that Salem... So help me I'll let the damn thing kill you!"

"Guys…" Amii's face tightens into a snarl.

"Well you need to," Salem punches the wall, "learn to take care of your own shit! We can't always come to save you!"

"GOD DAMN IT! GUYS! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Amii screams as loud as she can, alerting the whole base to the botched training exercise they just pulled.

"Sorry 'Mii…" both of them look down at their feet…

"Good to see you have loyalty issues but are a born leader…" Ayla walks past and slaps a piece of paper in Amii's chest.

"Hey Ayla!" Salem bounds over to her girlfriend and hugs her.

"You want a Psychiatric Exam on ME!? What the fuck kind of bullshit is this!?"

"From what I saw in the training room, and right here, I have firm beliefs that you suffer from SPD…." Ayla nods her assessment and smirks as she walks off, "My office, 3 hours Miss Stracener."

"I… But… You... Me… Salem..?" the redhead just promptly drops to her butt and stares at the piece of paper in a blank stupor.

11

Ayla breathes in, _KNOCK_, and breathes out, shooting the toothpick out of the straw and into the ceiling, "Bulls eye… Come in Amii."

The redhead walks in, slams the door behind her, her pale skin flushed with unfocused rage, "What gives you the right to assume I have Split Personality Disorder..?"

"Well," the psychologist loads another toothpick into her weapon, then places it to her lips, "out in public, you show a more laid-back, relaxed, upbeat personality... In the training room, your personality becomes so stone-cold and reverse so fast, it's almost as though you become a completely different person…"

_THINKA!_ Another direct hit in the middle of the target on the ceiling… Which just so happens to be a picture of Commander Hampton Brice.

"My mom raised me to be able to become completely alert and ready to handle anything in a combat situation… I am alwa…"

A hand is raised to silence the ranting redhead, "That's not what I mean... What I am talking about is that I firmly believe you take on the personality of someone close to you… Someone that you care about a lot. And know nothing of them except of their personality… It's a rare occurrence... But I think you are actually becoming your father as a way of being close to him… All you have are stories from your mom and details on his personality…"

Amii has taken a seat by now, already opening the drink put before her by Ayla, "Um…"

"It's okay," she gives a disarming smile, "You just need to listen at this point… As a way of keeping your dad with you, you do everything how he'd handle it… It's a natural response for someone who's never known a parent… Quite common among Military Children…"

"Bu… Um…" the older of the two can't even begin to comprehend what's being said, as she's being swarmed with memories of the stories about her dad...

"Amii?" Ayla peeks up at the redhead from behind her coloring book and arches a slender cinnamon brow.

"I'm… I'm gonna go…" the door closes before the shrink-to-be even has a chance to say anything.

"Curiouser and curiouser…"

11

"'Night Sukie…"

"Night Tawny..."

"Night Amii… Hmm? Amii?"

Both of the souls in the room sit up in their beds and look at each other, their redhead leader is missing in action… Without a shared word, the two stand up and walk into the hallway, a faint muffled sound reaching them.

"She outside?"

"I," replies Salem, "am not sure… Wanna head out to the courtyard and see?"

He nods, motioning for her to follow, but Salem just runs up to the door and slowly pushes it open, allowing the small form on the bench to slowly crawl into view.

What lies before them breaks Salem's heart….

"I miss him so much mom… I've never known him and it's getting to me finally…" Amii slowly wipes her nose with a piece of tissue, then blows into it.

The phone on her ear flashes blue and lights up her face, which is tear-stricken something horrible... Her shirt is ruffled and wet from the tears running down her round face. Her knees are pulled up and pressed against her chest, the pants darkened from the salty tears. Salem opts to say something to let her know that friends are here, but Tawny just places a hand on her shoulder and pulls her back into the hallway…

11

"He... Hey guys…" Amii walks into their room sometime later, the time lost amongst the rambling conversation between Salem and Tawny.

"Hey… Come on and go to bed! Sleep is good for the soul!" Salem tries to put on a happy expression…

Amii smiles back, takes a step forward, but is stopped as Tawny stands up and embraces her in a hug, his expression somber and easy to read, "I'm so sorry 'Mii…"

"Ah? Um…." she just wraps her arms around his neck and places her head in the crook of his neck, "I'm sorry... I've tried to be strong for you guys…."

_Click_, a gun hammer is snapped back, distracting everyone to the three men dropping from the window onto the balcony.

"Don't move or make a sound… We're taking over this base... Umbrella's orders."

Amii's face curls into an evil snarl as she turns slightly, her handgun already pointing in the face of the one who spoke, "Leave here at once…"

"You," he chuckles behind his black gas mask, "little girl... Have no idea how much you have just fucked up…"

The three men soon have two more guns pointed at them, Amii now sporting a smug smirk, "No... You have no idea how bad you just fucked up by picking this room to enter…."

An explosion of gunfire, then the room grows quickly dark.

11

_"WARNING! INTRUDER ALERT! EVERYONE TO ZONE ASSIGNMENTS!"_

Suddenly the halls burst to life as bodies pour from each and every door, some half-clothed, some naked carrying guns in their hands. Gunfire slowly makes its way down the main corridor as Umbrella Mercenaries slowly begin to enter the base. As the forty or so men reach the main junction of the front building, they are stopped as several hundred armed men and women meet them from the front, the left, and of course, the right…

"I told them you guys fucked up… Drop your weapons and surrender immediately..." Amii raises her M93R and smirks, "if you comply, we'll shoot you outright…. If you chose to fight back… We'll kill three members of your families for each soldier dead here tonight…"

The mercenary in front raises his machine gun, "We're to bring in Amii Stracener… She is all we need…. If we get her, everyone else leaves here safe ton-"

A rope is dropped around his neck and he is promptly pulled up into the ceiling, "NO ONE TAKES MY SOLDIERS CAPTIVE!"

Yet again, gunfire sounds off, bodies dropping left and right, blood quickly coating the floor and walls by the barrel-full. Commander Brice drops from the ceiling, emptying both of his grenade launchers into the swarm of heavily-armed men, taking out roughly half the group in the two blasts….

The fight is quickly over, death toll 100% for Umbrella, and a measly 2 soldiers dead… But two is two too many for this base….

"Six family members I have to kill…." Amii drops the empty clip and loads in a new one…

_Why can't the killing stop?_

11

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU STRACENER!?"

Amii is lightly blown back from the rage flying from Brice's lips, "Um... What do you mean?"

"You worthless," he stops there, a bit of the anger and sharpness to his words slowly fading away, "Sorry, that's not what I mean... You were opted to sacrifice MY men to save your own skin?"

"You arrogant little snot!" Amii retorts back, "What makes you think Umbrella would've let everyone go if I gave myself up to them? They would've been sacrificed regardless of the outcome with me!"

In the back of the room, Ayla is furiously scribbling notes in her black book about the two, whispering to herself occasionally, "Both have over-expressed egos… May lead to further fights…" she stops, shakes her head, "No... It WILL lead to further fights."

Brice and Amii both turn to her, "WILL YOU QUIT THAT!?"

"Hey!" she throws her hands in the air, "Don't take your anger out on me! That's not healthy!"

"Geez, you try to help some people…" she murmurs under her breath.

Soon the fight starts to turn violent as things are thrown around the room, which Ayla sees as the perfect cue to leave and call security.

11

Endless pages are flipped as the raven-haired girl quickly thumbs through her notebooks, trying to find the right word to describe what she just saw. Her eyes quickly scan her hastily-written notes, not finding it. Sweat beads on her brow as the room is unnecessarily hot, but she promptly reaches out and adjusts the dial on her thermostat, cool air blasting the heat away.

"Where is it?" she drops yet another notebook, this making fourteen in all.

One more is raised, "EGOTISTICAL! No…." she drops it and grabs another.

"Ego-maniacal?" the voice is soft, almost lost amongst the ruffling of the psychiatrist.

"Hmm? Oh hi Salem!" Ayla replaces her frustrated snarl with a happy smile at the sight of her lady, "Come! Come! Sit!" she swats a stack of papers off the couch.

Salem begins to slowly step over the massive piles of papers and books, but her girl just smiles and drags her down onto the couch, "Don't mind all that! It's just work, so how've you been? Doing okay after the stress of the training?"

Salem just kind of blinks, "Um... Sure... I'm fine... You okay?"

Ayla's brown eyes flash for a brief second, "Yeah I'm fine... Just have been kind of frustrated over Amii and Brice... Their relationship is so unique… I think writing about that may finally get me recognized by the EAP..."

"Um..." she is truly lost at this, "EAP? Wassat?"

Miss Payne smirks to calm the confusion and replies, "Well, it's the European Association of Psychiatrists... Newly formed maybe fifteen years ago? So far all THAT!" she points to the obscenely large stack of paper on what Salem assumes to be her desk, "Is what I've got so far on the two of them…"

The raven haired woman blinks and her jaw drops, "All that? That's more writing than I've seen in textbooks…."

"Meh," Ayla shrugs and leans back in the chair and into Salem's outstretched arm, "It's mostly ramblings and 'light bulb' thoughts on the situation I've had from day-to-day…"

Salem clamps her left hand on her girl's left arm and lays her head down on her shoulder, just happy to be able to spend time with the girl that has swallowed so much of her soul recently.

Both share silence for a while, until Salem sees it fit to break it with, "You know… We're gonna need to invest in bookshelves for you…."

Ayla chuckles, Salem joins in, then both turn into loud laughter as the sun begins to go down outside.

11

_Why did she tell me that? Why did Amii have to tell me why she broke up with me?_ The rock quickly skips across the lake a few miles from the base, Tawny's reflection warping in the ripples.

What she told him has bounced around inside his skull ever since he heard it, the words now carved into his memory. Amii was the first girl he felt he needed to protect, needed to be around, despite the fact that Amii can seriously take care of herself. Amii Stracener was indeed his first love… It was working fine between them, laughs, never a dull or angry moment… _Chick, chic... Chi… Splash... Kerplunk…_ another rock is thrown. The only male of the trio furrows his brow and grips another round rock in his hand.

"Why can't I get over her?" he pulls his arm back, preparing to throw.

Another rock flies past his face and bounces five times before sinking below the surface, "Because I've never gotten over you…"

Tawny spins around and looks face-to-face with Amii, her face tight and full of sorrow, "Amii?"

The woman of his affections takes a step toward him, "We've got to work out a few th-"

She can't finish as Tawny pulls her in and his lips meet hers, _We'll protect each other… Always…_

Amii wraps her arms under his and places her hands on the backs of his shoulders, _I'm going to need you to protect me through this… Seriously Tawny…_

11

The room is dark and nearly empty, Brice having cleaned it out several hours earlier. Speaking of which, Brice himself opens the door and steps in, his phone blinking endlessly as a voice fills his head. The voice itself sounds distraught and angry, but Brice's own words are calm and collect.

"I told you to give me enough time and you'll have what you need... No... No... Of course not. And finally, no. I've said it enough times, she has no clue, she's just following orders at this point."

But, a man's patience can only be strung so far, "Look god damn it! Aya has NO clue what awaits her daughter here... She's only supposed to keep putting thoughts of Dusty in the front of Amii's mind. The child will crumble under the pressure of having to fill her father's shoes…"

The other end of the line is quiet, "No Miss Clark… I will keep an eye out on the child and protect her from any Umbrella Assassination attempt. No soldier will die under my watch here."

Trudie Clark sighs on the other end, "What about the two from the attack early this morning?"

"No need to worry about that... They were spies Umbrella planted years ago... I took care of them myself."

The door is closed again as Brice leaves, the room once again bathed in darkness.

**End**


	3. Fading Dream Amongst Growing Nightmares

No More Dreams: A Fading Dream Amongst Growing Nightmares

_Am I doing the right thing? Getting back with Tawny? With Umbrella starting to step up their attacks on us.. No, starting to step up attacks on me.. Is he safe? Is anyone around me safe?_

Now it's Amii's turn to skip rocks on the lake while diving deep into her own thoughts…. As is custom among anyone who skips rocks at this lake, they must gather their own pile, ignoring any pile not finished by the last person.. For Amii, this meant a swift swim in the lake. The water was freezing cold, but she hoped it would help suppress her uneasiness.. It did no such thing, only made the pain of what might happen even more evident and real.

So now Amii Stracener sits at the bank of the lake in her red bikini, the straps of the bottom lost to the small rolls everyone has when they sit down, _Sometimes I wonder if my being alive and carrying on my father's name is even more of a curse than what he left me…_

Her arm locks back, her green eyes squint, then the rock is quickly sent flying over the surface, bouncing seven times before sinking back to the depths. The wind picks up, goose bumps crawling over her skin, and causing a certain area of her chest to react.

"Gah!" she promptly grabs a towel and wraps it around her arms and chest, "So damn cold today!"

"Bah, it's about time I left anyway… Tawny might be worrying about me like he always does…." she stands up and starts to pull her jeans up her slender legs.

A voice picks up behind her, which promptly has a gun pointed at it, "He-HEY! Watch it with that thing 'mii!"

"Oh.. Sorry Salem.. Am just a bit on edge…" the redhead sighs and places the gun back in the holster on her thigh.

Her raven-haired friend sighs as well and holds up Amii's shirt, trying her best to avoid staring at her scantily-clad friend, "Um.. Here…"

Amii looks up at Salem as she pulls her pants up, then huffs, stretches up, and crosses her arms across her chest, "Salem! We've known each other for YEARS, stop being awkward around an almost naked girl… Hehe."

Salem just smiles and picks up a random rock from the ground, then skips it, "Sorry 'Mii, it's just odd thinking I can't look at other girls cause I'm with Ayla…"

"Well?" Amii snaps the clasps on the Kevlar vest to and pushes her friend toward the base, "What says you can't?"

"It's.. Not polite Amii…"

"Heh, it's human instinct, get over it… Just don't do it around her…"

Both laugh and disappear into the entrance doors for the base, neither still residing in their own uneasiness about anything.

11

"~Du riescht so gut…..~" the song blares through the small work room as two figures slowly continue their workout, the room colder than normal due to the strenuous exercising going on.

"Why are we listening to this old song again!?" Amii screams over to the woman standing two feet from her.

Salem smiles, "Cause Flake is in it!"

Amii quickly jumps off the treadmill and walks over to the fountain, her lips parting as she takes a large gulp, "Salem your obsessions will never change will they!?"

"Not as long as I'm alive!"

11

"Cam! Hey! Cam! STOP RUNNING DAMN IT!"

The blue-haired male slowly stops next to the armory and looks back at Tawny, the larger of the two a few meters behind, "What? What do you want?"

Tawny pats Cameron Beale on the shoulder and huffs, "Blue is not your color dude… Try pink…"

"Fuck you man…" Cam laughs with Tawny as they sit down on the track, "What did you stop me for?"

"Me and Amii got back together…. Again…"

A long drawn-out sigh escapes the lips of his best friend, "Not again… What is this? The fourth time? Look, you are just gonna need to admit it's not gonna work out… EVER."

"I have a really good feeling this time.. Something is different about her.. She's more vulnerable…"

"You're one obsessed little puppy…" Cameron sighs again, "You know that Tawn?"

11

"DAMN IT TIMMY!"

Brown hair flutters about as a short woman jumps over the banisters that line the beginning of the gun range. A hefty handgun slaps against her thigh as she pounces on a meek young man standing in the middle of the range, holding a target board.

"Do not stand in front of me when I'm firing in the gun range!" her eyes burn bright blue behind her glasses as she continues to berate the younger man beneath her.

"I'm sorry Caryn! I was just finishing up for the day so I could go sleep!" Timmy Wesson cringes under Caryn as she finally climbs off him.

Caryn Carmack huffs and pulls her bangs from her eyes and she helps him up, "It's okay… You can go to your dorm now Timmy… I'll see you bright and early tomorrow right?"

"'Kay Caryn…" the younger man scrambles out of the armory without a second thought.

"One of these days," Caryn drops the handgun onto the rack and walks toward her small office, "he is gonna get killed in that range…"

It's been a long three months since Timmy Wesson arrived at her Armory Door, Commander Brice having gotten pissed at his inability to participate in the Training. In that time Caryn has whipped him into a nice clean-up boy, since he is pretty much incapable of anything else. The woman groans as she drops down into her broken leather chair, the day's worries finally weighing down on her.

"HAI CARYN!"

_Oh god not him… Anyone but him…_ her blood runs cold at the thought of Cameron and Tawny walking into her room.

She meets them at the doorway, blocking the view of the two men from her room, she knows both of them are looking for something dirty to laugh about later, "What?"

"Um…" Cameron is obviously trying to look around her for some sort of undergarment, but Caryn places a hand in his face to push him back.

"Well, me and Amii got back together…" Tawny looks right at Caryn, which startles her.

"Oh really?" her face shows what Cameron just told him, "How long will this one last? Two? Three minutes?"

Tawny's face reflects the anger at her comment, "Why does no one think we'll work this time!?"

Caryn sighs and places a hand on her hip, blocking the doorway even more, "Because it never lasts between you two… You always do something to piss her off…"

Cameron slowly looks over at Tawny, expecting him to do something drastic, but his friend does nothing but stare at Caryn, a new glint in his eye, "I'll prove you wrong…. We're gonna work this time."

With that, Tawny clenches his left fist and walks out of the armory, leaving Cameron and Caryn shaking their heads in defeat, "They're not gonna last…"

Cameron nods and looks up at Caryn, "So wanna go see a movie?"

"Ugh!" Caryn takes two steps back and slams her door in his face.

11

A light breeze slowly crawls through the smoky streets, overturned cars sending orange flames high into the early morning sky. Spent grenade casings and 9mm shells are scattered across the asphalt, slowly making a trail to a single female sitting down on a destroyed bench, her head leaning over the back of the bench, her jade eyes closed and pointed to the sky. Scratches adorn her tanned skin, while her clothes rest in tatters, barely covering the important parts of her body. Her M93R rests next to her, the barrel smoking lightly from overuse, the M79 dropped by her feet.

"You…" Amii slowly raises her head and stares at the pane of glass in front of her, "Suck balls, Brice."

Amii has just completed her final training mission, an endurance test. Thirty-four grenades and countless clips later, Amii Stracener has cleared out over two-hundred zombies and other BOWs. She wasn't sure she was going to make it plenty of times throughout it, but something in the back of her mind kept her going, kept her shooting even when her fingers just couldn't pull the triggers anymore. A single voice kept her going when she truly believed she couldn't..

"Thanks, mo-"

Her thoughts are scrambled as her earpiece bursts to life, "Well done, Stracener!"

Amii groans as her body protests her efforts to stand up, a hot bath and a long cuddle are just what she's looking for now. The building in front of her splits, the colors fading away to reveal the entrance to the hologram room. Salem and Tawny both run in, Tawny smiling widely at his girl, then drops into a hug.

"Congratulations 'Mii!" he picks her up, resting her head on his shoulder, "Let's get you out of here."

_That sounds great… Too bad I won't be here to see his last mission…_ Amii's eyes close as she falls asleep in Tawny's arms, a crooked smile never leaving her cracked lips.

11

"Salem, Tawny," Brice ushers the two to sit down in front of his desk.

Brice uncrosses his arms and drops an envelope in front of them, his expression unreadable, signaling bad news for whoever the note is addressed to. Salem reaches for it, but stops as her eyes catch the addressee.

"Amii?"

Brice nods, "It's from Ayla. It's about Amii's mental health."

Tawny quickly grabs the envelope and tears the top off, his eyes quickly scanning the note for anything wrong, "It… She's fine…?"

Brice sighs in disgust, "Yeah… I'm shocked. I thought for sure she was going to be insane or something."

Both of the other occupants in the office both stare at Brice in complete disbelief at his open bad-mouthing of their friend. Brice ignores them and continues on in his rant about her mental health, spittle lining the desk as he reaches a very angry part of the story.

_Does… Doesn't he ever shut up?_

11

"MOSKOW!" Ayla tosses balls of paper into the overflowing trashcan.

Salem's obsessions have started to rub off on her it seems, Ayla is now finding herself singing Rammstein songs and starting to obsess over Flake.. Well, not so much the second obsession, even though Flake is more often than not the topic of their ramblings together.

As the psychiatrist fumbles for more paper to toss to make room for the new dining table, her eyes rest on her latest notes for Amii, "I still believe she's trying to live in the footsteps of a man she's never met…."

"Who are you talking about?" the voice is quiet, but her entrance was even quieter.

Ayla jumps up and drops the folders and books to the ground, "Salem! Hi!"

Salem flicks some black strands of hair from her eyes, "What is truly wrong with Amii? I read your report, but it seemed lacking to me…"

"Bah," her girlfriend waves a hand to shoo the thought away, "I gave Brice that report to shut him up."

"So," Salem sits down next to Ayla and looks down at the numerous folders, "What is wrong with her for real?"

"She's been pushed and pushed to be like her father so much… Since she's never known him personally, she can only act how he acts… I've heard stories about him myself… And what she's doing transcends just acting like him… She's made him a part of her in a way…." Ayla hands Salem a cup of tea, then continues, "It's like an obsession gone horribly wrong… I've seen the worst case scenario of people like her… They end up consumed by the memories of that person…. They BECOME that person… I wouldn't actually be surprised if she's dating Tawny cause she thinks he can protect her from that fate.. Well, that is if she KNOWS what she's going through…"

Salem continues to stare at the journals, this time in complete and utter confusion from what she just heard… So after a few long minutes, she manages to say, "Huh."

11

"Alaris was eliminated I take it?"

Several heavily-armed soldiers nod simultaneously, their faces hidden behind gas masks. Their stances are exactly alike, not a single muscle different among them. As a tall man walks in front of them, his suit pressed and perfect, they follow him in unison.

The skin on the back of his neck crawls at the creepy scene, but Augustine Millington shakes the feeling away. He has pride that the Fusion Genetic Program worked out as he intended, the nine soldiers before him the original subjects. All of them were as different as can be genetically, but after his team finished, they all look, sound, act, move, and think alike. Perfect copies, down to the last cytosine. After the failed Draco Experiments with Fusion, most of Umbrella forgot about the virus, the Directors ordering all data and experiments be put on hiatus until they could be properly destroyed. But Millington was able to gain access to all research and samples, a new vision forming amongst the fresh group of scientists.

"Well, tell Argonal to suit up, they are to send the package as planned." the nine soldiers salute and march off, the sound of only one set of footsteps rattling their creator to his core.

"Genome couldn't have worked any better… A little too well I think…" oh well, not really a thing to waste one's thoughts on, as he is already at his desk working on the gene sequence for the next set of soldiers.

All his research is based off mere hunches, no real scientific fact behind any of it, but Umbrella is none the wiser, cause as long as he provides results, they will keep forking out the money to help him satiate his sadistic need to play God. Augustine sighs and thinks back to the machinery that is helping him out. The eighteen women they are holding down in the Living Cells, each one a runaway or throwaway, no one that society will miss…. They provide the incubator for his little sick experiments, the sickest of all the sciences: Human Experimentation. It perverts the mind to think of the pain and suffering he's unleashing on these innocent souls, but yet again, Augustine cannot bother to think on such trivial matters.

"Millington! Argonal is ready sir. Shall I dispatch him?"

He nods at the voice, then realizes it's coming from the speaker on his desk, "Yes. He is good to go."

**End**


	4. A Foreshadow Into Hell

Evanescence: No More Dreams: A Foreshadow Into Hell

"Oohh! Someone's at mah door!" Caryn bounces toward the metal doors blocking her armory from the rest of the base, a loud knocking having awoken the woman.

The door cracks open, stopping as it mysteriously hits a large brown box with holes. Caryn picks it up, the package weighing about fifteen pounds at the most. In a moment of curiosity, she shakes the box, a loud squeak sounding from inside. This peaks Caryn's interest and she sets the box down on the ground, then opens it. A large red flash flies from the opening, latching around her neck. The beast is covered in orange fur, the tips on its head set back in spikes and colored red. Tan-colored softer fur covers its stomach, and small black claws protrude from its paws. Lastly a pair of yellow eyes lock with blue as the fuzz ball squeaks softly, then buries its head in her chest, a soft purring sound shaking Caryn softly.

"Wha?" she's seen this before… She can't remember where, but this little ball of fur is in her memories.

"Caryn!" Cameron runs up, "How a- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"

The animal squeaks at him and cowers back into Caryn's arms, "I…. I think it's a Moomba…."

"A what, Caryn?" the man is obviously confused.

She shrugs, then gently strokes its head, "I don't know where I've seen one before, I just know it's called a Moomba…"

The Moomba looks up at her, opens its mouth, then makes a new sound, "Caaaaryn."

Caryn blinks for a minute or two, "What did you just say?"

It blinks and replies, "Caryn!"

Cam bends down, reaches out, but Moomba squeaks loudly and swats his hand away, then cowers further into Caryn's arms, "Hah! Even Moomba doesn't like you!"

Cameron huffs and walks off, obviously put off by the animal, leaving Caryn to herself with her new pet, "You know… I'm gonna call you Salsa…"

Salsa tilts his head, blinks, and replies, "Caryn!"

"No, Salsa."

"Caryn!"

"You know," she stands up and walks back into the armory, "we are gonna have problems…."

11

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?"

So far that is one thousand, two hundred, and forty-seven people who have asked that since Caryn walked in to breakfast that morning… _Not including Cameron_, she adds.

"Well, it's a Moomba. His name is Salsa."

"Caryn!"

She glares at it, "No you are Salsa!"

"Caryn!"

Amii laughs and pats Caryn on the shoulder, "Apparently he wants to be Caryn."

Caryn crosses her arms, "I refuse to be called Salsa. So I am Caryn, you are Salsa, got it!?"

Salsa just blinks and scratches down his nose. It's only been four hours since he arrived and already Caryn is the most popular person in the base, which has begun to piss off a few people. One of the aforementioned people walks up and grabs Salsa around his neck.

"You little shit!"

Caryn jumps up and points her magnum in Kenton's face, "Drop Salsa this instant!"

Salsa squeaks repeatedly, then slams both of his front paws into Kenton's arms, blood spewing from six large gashes. The attacker drops the animal and quickly wraps a few paper towels over the wounds.

Salsa scrambles up Caryn's pants and rests on her left shoulder, glaring at his attacker through her brown hair, "Look what that little snot did to me!"

"It's what you get for attacking an innocent animal…" retorts Amii as she bites down on a piece of toast, not at all shocked at how this morning is turning out.

_Another day in paradise…_

11

"CAAAARRRRMMMMAAACCKKKK!"

It's four minutes past noon and already the base has come to a standstill as Brice announces his next victim.

"You know Caryn," Amii looks over at the brunette Texan, "I think that's a new record… Over MY records…"

Caryn smiles and pets Salsa, "Yeah, I'm good."

"Caryn!"

"NO! You are Salsa!"

"Caryn Carmack, my office, NOW!" Brice picks Caryn up by her holster strap and drags her into his office, the door slamming with enough force to knock the posters off the wall.

"Uh oh," Amii blinks and slowly walks off, whistling a happy tune.

11

"What the fuck is that thing? Where did it come from? And who sent it?"

Caryn blinks, "Can I cross the bridge now? That was three questions and you look like a Troll…"

Brice's eyes glow with a deep hatred for the woman, "ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTIONS!"

The brunette sighs and messes with her ponytail, "'Kay. It's a moomba. They were originally a video-game character created by Square-Enix back in the 1990's for their series Final Fantasy."

"That doesn't explain why it exists now though." Brice is completely uninterested in the monster's back-story.

"Well, that I don't know. But what I do know is that it's a moomba and I am gonna keep it."

The commander of the base stands up and says, "You're a moron if you think I'm gonna let you keep that…"

"NO YOU!" Caryn screams back at him, pointing her index finger at his face with a new ferocity.

"Just…. Just get out of my office…" Brice has had enough, he's starting to develop a headache.

11

"Kenton? You still with us buddy?"

Kenton Badelth groans and rolls over in his bed, not wanting to talk to anyone right now, "Go away….."

George Carwell slides into the room, his butterball stature taking up a lot of the room, "What's up man?"

"Die in a fire."

"Um… How're the scratches?"

"Drown in napalm…"

George isn't getting the idea, "Lemme see the scars!"

"Look damn it! I want you to die! Drop off the face of the earth! MELT IN LAVA! BE NO MORE!" Kenton stands up, the bandages on his arms flexing, "THAT MEANS I WANT YOU TO EXIST NO MORE!"

The larger of the two men blinks, the meaning of Kenton's words lost to him, "Um… Do you need some more painkillers?"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the wounded man pounces onto the fat cook, his bandages flying off as the rage in his blood causes his muscles to expand.

"Get off me man! I'm just trying to help!" George is in pain, but can't help but stare at the orange tint to his friend's skin.

The closer the color gets to the wounds, the darker it gets, then his eyes rest on the small tube-like growths sprouting from each scar. George's skin pales at the sight, he knows what has happened to his friend. Apparently that monster infected him with a virus… Kenton growls above him and raises his arm, the tubes turning into four-foot tentacles, that then wrap around one another to form a spike, ready to pierce his heart.

11

"Move out of the way!" Brice tears down the hallway, his boots slapping the tile heavily, carrying him faster and faster until he's in a full sprint. Doctors and scientists duck out of the way, a few having to slam their patients into the wall. Brice saw the video feed before it was cut off, something from the mutation causing the video to fry. His hand strokes the handle of his combat knife eagerly, the commander not wanting this monstrosity loose on his base.

_How dare she send that thing here!?_ his expression burns with hatred for Trudie Clark.

That woman sent that monster here to Carmack, made sure that there would be an infection inside the base… Brice's blood boils at the thought of that freak of nature, but he has to push it aside as he nears the room where Kenton was placed. He steps on the pressure pad, the door slides open, and he flings the knife into the room, the blade slicing clean through the still-mutating skull of Kenton Badelth. The monster groans in pain, but Brice just grabs onto the door frame and pulls himself up, slamming both boots into the bleeding face of one of his soldiers.

"Get out of here now."

George crawls to his feet and scrambles out of the room, leaving Brice with what was once Kenton, "Come on you gruesome son of a bitch…"

It tries to stand up, but three bullets fly past Brice's head and decimate what was left of the monster's face. Hampton attempts to turn around, but Amii pulls him out of the room, a small bottle of ether in her hands. She lights the cloth sticking out of the lip of the bottle and slams the cocktail into the twitching and shifting flesh.

"Everyone out and seal this door!"

Amii pushes Brice out and slams the door to, using her knife to sever the controls for the hydraulic rams. Brice glares at her and attempts to say something, but Amii is already gone, the sound of her boots slapping the tile slowly fading away.

"Damn you Stracener…"

11

"What the fuck did Trudie send to this base!?" Amii screams into the phone, her blood still racing from the kill.

"I.. I don't know.. She hasn't been around in a few weeks… But I'll talk to her as soon as I see her… Describe what it looked like to me please 'Mii," Aya's voice isn't as frantic as Amii's at the moment.

"I never got a good look.. I just ran in and set him on fire…" Amii feels really dumb for doing that now.

"Gah!" Aya isn't too happy about that one, "Well, what do you remember about it? Anything you know will help me identify the strain."

"Um…" her daughter's voice drones in and out as she wracks her own brain, "Orange skin… Yeah.. Orange."

"Orange as in the fruit-color orange? Or a darker orange?"

"Fruit to start, but gets darker the closer to the point of infection."

The line goes silent as Aya registers this information, "You know what infected him?"

"Well, yeah, Caryn got an animal I've never seen before…"

"Get me a blood sample as soon as you can," there wasn't even any hesitation from her mom.

"Um… Ho-"

"You'll figure it out."

11

"NO YOU!" Caryn points in Amii's face while turning Salsa from the woman.

"Look Caryn… I just need a little blood sample.." she tries to be sincere and calm the woman.

"No! You'll have to find another way! You leave Salsa alone!"

"Caryn!"

Caryn looks down at Salsa, "Shut up you."

The door is promptly slammed in Amii's face, leaving the woman with less than she started with. The redhead sighs and slides down the wall, not sure where to go next. She wants to know what Kenton was infected with…..

"That's it!"

Amii jumps up and runs off toward the Morgue, hoping that Shane hasn't disposed of the body yet.

11

"SHANE!" the sound of fists pounding on his door drag Shane McLinton from the crispy corpse.

"What? What do you want?" he is not happy to be interrupted.

"Oh my god Shane, have you disposed of the new corpse yet?" Amii runs past him, almost knocking the large man over.

Shane spins around and grabs Amii's arm, holding her in place, "I have strict orders from Brice to keep you off the corpse. You must leave at once."

"Shane…." the redhead in his hands begins to turn slowly, "I need you to snag a sample of its blood, and a piece of its skin…"

"I can't do that."

"Oh come on! You were just fixing to do it! Just cut it off from a place they'll never look… Like the armpit. Come on….." she drags out the last word.

Shane sighs and lets the woman go, not too happy with how she's always able to get what she wants. Amii pulls out a syringe and draws some blood, then slices off a piece of its skin from the armpit, then is gone without a word.

The mortician sighs and reaches down to grab his scalpel, "Ugh… People.."

11 **A Few Hours Later** 11

Aya slides the blood sample under the microscope and pushes her left eye against the viewer. Her initial instincts were correct, this is a new form of Fusion from so long ago… _So they have restarted the Fusion Program… After all these years, I thought those demons were long gone… Seems you can't escape the worst things…_

The aging redhead leans back in her chair, shuddering as memories of those long years flashes past her eyes… So many people.. Lost, for nothing…. Umbrella covered it up, same as always….

"DAMN IT!" she slams a fist onto the table, shaking the samples around.

"Aya?" Trudie walks in, her hair in shambles from sleep, her blue eyes blinking constantly to adjust to the light.

"Hmm? Oh hi Trudie…" Aya rubs the bridge of her nose in thought, "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

Trudie just smiles and sits down next to her, her eyes locking onto the skin samples with alarm, "What are those!?"

Both women exchange glances, "Just some samples Amii sent from a mutation at her base…"

Aya notes her friend's odd reaction, but chocks it up to lack of sleep, "Apparently Umbrella tried something.. Don't worry, she handled it."

**End**


	5. We Begin it All Again

Evanescence: No More Dreams: We Begin It All Again

Trudie pales inside at the thought that it was actually infectious, _The bastards lied to me! They said if I didn't… Oh god… They knew Amii would be there!_

"Um.. Aya.. I'll be back…" Trudie grabs a jacket and runs out the door, not giving Aya a chance to retort.

Trudie's naked feet slam into the wet pavement as rain continues to pour down hard. The jacket providing no protection from the water and cold wind. The freak who started this lives only a few blocks down the street, that nerd's brain is gonna cause him a lot of pain.

Her fist slams into the door repeatedly, a light flickering to life on the second floor, a sound of hurried footsteps penetrating the thick oak door, "What the hell do you want at this hour Trudie?"

The door flies open and a brunette child stares at her, disgruntled at the early wake-up call, "You said that piece of shit wouldn't be infectious!"

He gasps for air as Trudie shoves her right hand around his neck and pushes him back into his own home. The boy fights to get away, only managing to piss his friend off more.

"Mi- Miss Trudie! Let me go!" she finally comes to her senses and drops her death grip on his neck, "I'm… I'm sorry Lylan."

Lylan Given rubs his neck, brushes off his clothes, and steps up toward her, his four-foot tall body dwarfed by the normally short woman, "I synthesized the virus to be infection-free. If that monster infected someone, apparently my creation was hacked and tampered with. Now, you can start the next part of our conversation a little on the courteous side, or you can leave. One of the two. Take note the next two words out of your mouth will decide where I put you."

That is why Trudie talks with this sixteen year-old. At his age, he already runs the largest Genetic corporation in the country outside of Umbrella, has stood up to multiple hostile takeovers of his company by Umbrella, and owns four houses in Arkansas and Nevada. And his mouth just goes to show that he doesn't believe he's better than you, he KNOWS he's better than you.

Trudie sighs and looks down at Lylan, "I'm sorry. You sent the package through your own personal packaging service right?"

"Um… About that…." he frowns and twiddles his thumbs, an obvious assault against Trudie having only one arm, "I uh… Sent it through the Military Delivery Service.. Only way to get it into the base."

"Oh you little snot… I ought to kill you!" she clenches her fist and grits her teeth, "You know that package was going to picked up by Umbrella somewhere along the line!"

She attempts to rant some more and blame him, but her phone rings, the light-hearted tone creeping Lylan out a bit, "Clark here."

"Aunt Trudie!? I didn't think I'd ever get a hold of you!" Amii's voice makes Trudie's rage instantly curve into worry.

"Are you okay Amii? Anything happen at the base outside of the one infected?" the words are rushed, adding a true sense of worry to her questions.

A long silence as Amii talks to someone on the other side of the phone and then, "No. Just Kenton. We're working now on trying to snag Salsa from Caryn, but it's not going too well. We're really worried she might start shooting if we keep pushing her."

Blonde hair flails about as Trudie shakes her head, "No, just warn everyone to not interact with Salsa. If they don't piss it off, it won't bite. Until your mom and I can synthesize a vaccine to remove the infectious DNA, avoidance is the best method."

"Understood," the line goes dead.

11

"No one will take you from me… No one… No one!" Caryn spins around in her chair while Salsa chirps happily at the spin.

Salsa's ears perk and he crawls down her arms and wraps around her neck, his eyes pointed at the door in anticipation. Caryn reaches for her weapon and pulls back the hammer, ready to take any action necessary, be it diplomatic, or violent..

_Or both…_a girl can dream.

The door slides open and Amii strolls in, holding what appears to be a lengthy stretch of paperwork, "You know what this is?"

After several minutes of intense study of the words and numbers on the pages, "No."

Amii takes a seat across from the brunette, avoiding any eye-contact with the monster, "It's a virus called Fusion. It's responsible for some of Umbrella's worst outbreaks of the last 30 years. We thought they closed the project after Neo-Raccoon was lost… Again.. Thanks in part to the hands of it's psychotic researcher Dr. Neil Donnelly. Fusion is simply Genetic Mutation in a Bottle. It fuses human DNA with that of the three base animals used to create it's unique Trioxyribonucleic Acid, or TNA. You mix chameleon, komodo dragon, and iguana with human base catalyst.. You get dragons. You mix the original dose of Fusion, unaltered by TNA, with human DNA, you get what is called the Neo-Human Hulk. That is…. Caryn? Caryn?"

A light snore rises from the chair across from her, Salsa is asleep as well, his nose buried in her neck for warmth, "Oh dear lord… CARYN!"

"NO YOU!"

"What I'm getting at is your pet is a creation of this virus. Anything it bites is gonna mutate with whatever was used to breed that thing and turn into something far worse."

Salsa chirps in anger, as if it knows the redhead is talking about him, but Caryn quiets him with a cracker, "What am I to do about it?"

"Keep him away from people.. He'll only bite if he gets angry… So remove the human element from his life and everything shall be okay," an uneasy silence, "we think."

Dark eyes flash as Caryn draws her massive revolver and points it at Amii, "Get the hell out of my armory. Right now." Salsa jumps up, the hair on top of his head standing up in three spikes as he growls ferociously, sharing his mom's anger.

"Fine. But if anyone else gets infected, I will kill it," and with that, Amii is gone.

11

"Okay Lylan, what can you tell me about the base components for 'Salsa' as it's called?"

Aya taps her nails on the keyboard impatiently as Lylan rifles through his own stack of papers, "I know it's in here somewhere, just got to find out where… AHA!"

Aya scans the small index card, then she reads it again, and again, "Fox, Corgi, and HUMAN DNA!? Are you insane!? That's what caused the virus to be infectious."

Lylan scoffs and places his notes back in the beaten manila folder, "I erased all traces of infected compounds from the virus."

"Stupid shit, Fusion ACTIVATES when connected to human DNA. It's not infectious right out of the damn bottle. Umbrella never hacked your package, YOU created this monster," Aya reels back to slap him, but regains her composure as the teenager cowers in his chair.

"We need the T-DNA sequence for Salsa, now," Lylan doesn't reply, he just hands her the fourteen-page stack to the enraged woman.

11

"Umbrella is planning something sir, I can sense it."

Brice claps unenthusiastically at the end of this little meeting, "You four just spent the past hour of my life telling me what I already know."

Captain Renee Terrigan spins toward the only person with a higher rank than him and smiles, the gum in his mouth snapping loudly, "Well Hampton, what do you have planned? I know you and your plans always involve one person leading a squad… So who's our guinea pig/scapegoat?"

A smile silences the commotion, "Little Miss Stracener."

The youngest member of the committee stands up, "But she's not even completed the final training seminar yet!"

"Doesn't matter," Brice tosses a folder onto the table.

"Fighting Umbrella is in her blood. Her dad pretty much single-handed took HCF off the map as a threat, her mom knows more on Fusion than anyone at Umbrella, and she has a Fusion-Dragon as a pet. She can handle this, I'm sure," Terrigan adjusts the straps on his vest and leans back, popping another piece of gum between his teeth.

"But Commander Brice, Captain Terrigan, most of us don't feel confident trusting an entire mission to one person, especially someone with a less than adequate record of compliance with orders from higher ups."

"Well," Brice pushes his hair up and sighs, "that is why she's not leading this alone. She will be allowed to have Miss Saori and Tawny along with her for support and consult."

"You? More than one leader? No way…" the sound of Terrigan's gum smacking is the only sound after that, and even that is slowed down a bit.

"Yeah I know, big shock, prepare your own squads accordingly, make sure you let them know what, and who they might come up against as we take Umbrella down, for good."

No one moves and a twitch crosses the Commander's lips, "DISMISSED DAMN IT!"

_Damn retards…_

11

"You want us to do what now?"

"I want the three of you," Brice drops a folder in front of Amii, the title simply marked, 'Umbrella Headquarters', "to lead the final attack against Umbrella."

"Just as simple as it sounds means it's a lot harder than you're letting on Commander."

Brice nods at Salem, "You're right Saori, it's going to be possibly the toughest assignment I've ever given, but I am positive you can accomplish it."

"Why us though?" Amii glares at her commanding officer.

"Because it's only fitting you finish what your parents started."

Amii's eyes dull at the mention of her parents, her father..

_Dad? I wish you were here with me… I really do…_

"Stracener?" the blonde male blinks and taps his foot.

A salute is snapped and Amii stands straight up, "Yes sir, mission accepted."

"Good, you have until 0900 hours Friday to prepare and plan."

11

"So? What are we to do?"

Amii paces the floor, her bare feet slapping the hardwood floor heavy with worry, "I don't know. Because of the incident in the infirmary, I doubt we can get Carmack to supply us with the necessary firepower."

Salem glances at the book in her friend's hands and raises an eyebrow, "What's with the book?"

It's tossed in her lap, "Everything we'll ever need to know about Fusion and Umbrella's Military Tactics. It's sort of my dad's memoirs that my mom wrote once he died…. It's really the only document of Umbrella's atrocities that hasn't been twisted by Umbrella."

"And why is that?" Tawny finally speaks up.

"Because," she smirks and pops her neck, "they have no idea it even exists."

" 'It was late May, I want to say… When we faced hell, again. HCF reopened Isle Eras after it was decimated all those years ago… If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made it off the damn freighter. Dusty was with it every step of the way, always knowing what to do, even if it was something new. He had this…. Knack I want to say, to know what was going to happen a split second before it did. He knew what weapon we needed, and when to fire it. I felt so sure nothing could touch us, nothing could take us from each other.. To be honest, I've felt that way since the moment I met him on this very island. I've always loved Dusty, and I'm sure he's always loved me.'"

"Stop, stop reading," Amii turns away, hiding the tears, she wants her father to be here, to guide her, to teach her, to lead her….

A knock on their door, then a soft voice, "Sa-Sa?"

Salem perks up at the pet name Ayla gave her and runs to the door, then looks back, "Keep me updated with the plan, kay?"

Amii nods and smiles, "You better take care of her Ayla, I'll find you if you don't!"

"There's that anger again Stracener, you having bathroom problems again?" Ayla smiles and wraps an arm around Salem's waist, "Off we go!"

Amii laughs and turns to Tawny, who just smirks and holds up her dad's book, "Shall we study up?"

"You mean study like actually read and plan, or the high school study where we turn up the music and make out?"

Tawny blinks, "Um…."

"Kidding, turn to page three-twenty and let's start with the Driller Event."

11

"I heard the news.." Ayla sighs and sits down across from Salem in the cafeteria, which is slightly empty.

"Yeah, I'm excited! Umbrella has done terrible things over the past 60 years, it's good to- Something wrong Ayla?"

The two girls stare into each others' eyes and Salem finally sees what her girlfriend has been hiding, tears, "I have a bad… Bad feeling about this… About you if you go…"

Salem's heart breaks a little at how sad Ayla is, but she slides around the table and hugs the raven-haired girl tightly, "It's okay, Amii is leading it, and I am positive she'll get us through it."

A sniffle and a scoff, "Don't you think maybe, just maybe, that everyone in this base is depending on her? That's a lot of responsibility for one person in my opinion. Even the strongest of wills can break under that stress."

Salem kisses Ayla's forehead and runs her left hand up and down Ayla's side in a comforting manner, "It's going to be okay, I promise, Tawny and I will be watching over her, protecting her. And she'll do them same for us."

Ayla is not put at ease, but the tone in her love's voice relaxes her a little, "Okay, fine. I'll be okay now."

_Amii won't make it through this…_

11

"Millington! The package was delivered as intended."

Augustine smiles and opens another bottle of water, "Excellent, any news on the rate of infection?"

The soldier stands still and erect, just as he was bred to do, "One so far."

This is an interesting turn of events, his eyebrow arching to imitate the strange remark, "Just one?"

"Well sir," the Fusion-Clone stares at the scientist with cold eyes, "it seems our Target managed to kill the first infected before further contamination could occur."

"Great, just great, is the pet still alive?"

Suddenly the door to his office flies open, "Sir! Bad news!"

The thumb and index finger of Augustine's left hand squeeze the bridge of his nose, "What news do you bring to me now, Carlisle?"

Jacob Carlisle pants and holds up a photo, "It seems the Draco has moved…"

This is bad news, really bad news, "Where to?"

"It's meeting up with our Target at their base…"

**End**


	6. Weather Bad Memories Forgotten Nightmare

Evanescence: No More Dreams: Weather, Bad Memories, and a Forgotten Nightmare

"No Tawny…. Not there…" Amii rolls over in bed, talking in her sleep again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?"

"WHERE'S BRICE!? DO WE KILL IT!?"

That's all that needs to be said before Amii is running down the hallways, her handgun drawn and pointed straight forward, opting at a decent angle for head shots or sternum shots. The laces of her boots flap around, leaving small whelps on her uncovered legs, but that's minor to the shock she feels as the redhead soldier slams through the main doors to the Living Station.

"GIZMO!?"

All commotion stops and guns are lowered as the large dragon chirps and jumps up, slamming down into the ground with a furious thud, "Oh my god! How did you find me!?"

Amii runs and jumps at her pet, wrapping her arms around his large neck in a hug. Gizmo lies down on his belly and allows her to drop down safely. She laughs as he licks her softly with his red tongue, the warmth comforting to her.

"STRACENER!" Satan has arrived!

Brice storms through the crowd, his face red with anger, his hands shaking with rage, "What the hell is this thing and why are you hugging it!?"

"It's my pet sir," a salute just to get under his skin, "his name is Gizmo, and he's a dra-"

"A what?"

"A dragon sir. They do exist. As you can plainly see," another sly smile to piss him off some more.

Brice attempts to yell at her some more, but a somewhat friendly voice chimes in, "How can she keep her pet but I can't keep mine!?"

Hampton sighs and runs his hands down his face, "Not now Car-"

"No you!" the brunette gunsmith walks up to Amii and presses a hand into her chest, which upsets Gizmo, "You want to kill my pet but you got one of your own!?"

"Easy boy," Amii pats the side of his face, "Gizmo here wasn't supposed to leave home…. And he's not infectious… My mom made sure of that shortly after they got him. Commander Brice," she looks over at the angry male, "this is to be our main weapon against Umbrella. I'm positive with this dragon at our back; we can destroy Umbrella once and for all."

"What," Brice glares up into the beast's eyes, "makes him so special?"

Gizmo flares his nostrils and the sudden heat makes the CO burst into a waterfall of sweat, "The fact that he's very sensitive to his surroundings and what is said about him. He might not really understand, my mom is still trying to figure that out, but I am sure he's like a dog and understands tones. But he's really keen on what's about to happen."

A few scattered chuckles, the loudest being from Caryn herself, "He's just a stupid animal…."

_ROAR! _Gizmo picks up and roars as loud as he can at the brunette offender, knocking her several yards back covered in dragon-spit, "Told you he's sensitive."

Brice grinds his teeth together and glares through his sunglasses at his red-haired bane, "You will get that THING off my base!"

Gizmo's pupils widen and his jaw lowers a little, "He's not going anywhere. I'll keep him in the courtyard… No one really goes out there anyway.."

Behind her erupts a light gasp, the meek sound coming from her female friend, "Something wrong Salem?"

"No!" the raven-haired girl covers her mouth, "No, nothing…"

"It's settled then. If this… 'Gizmo' makes one threatening motion toward anyone in this base, I'll kill it myself."

Gizmo growls at the blonde commander, but Amii stops him, "This.. 'It' as you call it is a HE!"

A scoff, "How would you know Stracener?"

"You ever seen a female elephant try and mount a large semi-truck?"

The most awkward of silences ever, then a few chuckles and blushed faces, "Gizmo is male."

11

A ruffle of sheets, a few hushed voices, then a female giggle, "No Tawny! Stop!"

The sheets flail about as if to mock what the two people underneath are doing, finally a face appears from the edge of the white cover, "What? You said you wanted me to give you a massage…"

"Yeah," Amii squeals as Tawny 'massages' her back, meaning he squeezed it in a light pinch, "but I mea-"

The sunlight pouring into their room is blocked out as a large amber eye is staring into the room, "GIZMO DOWN BOY!"

Tawny sighs and stares over at his girl, "You know… I think he's a bit too overprotective…"

A sigh, "Yeah, maybe… But it means I can do THIS!" she rolls over on top of him and begins to tickle him furiously.

Tawny screams out and begins to laugh, but a knock on their door ends the fun, it's been five days, meaning it is now eight am on Friday: an hour until game-time.

"Stracener, Anderling, get decent and be downstairs in twenty minutes," nothing more is said from Commanding Officer Hampton Brice.

"Well, you heard him. It's now or never for us and Umbrella," Amii's voice is solid and unwavering, meaning she is ready for it, for what needs to be done.

_Dad, follow me through this day, guide me, watch over me, give me the strength I need to do what is necessary. Help me finish this…_

A hand is placed on her shoulder, Tawny sitting next to her pulling on his boots, "We'll do this. We'll win cause we're fighting for a real cause."

A light chuckle, "Oh wow that was bad…."

Both stop and laugh, a good laugh to break up the fear eating at both of them, despite the steady expressions they wear now.

11

"Alright! Everyone line up!" Amii slowly descends the stairs and drops her weapons case on the ground by her feet. "I'm glad to see that everyone showed up this morning. Even those I didn't ask to come along."

A light chuckle flows through the three-hundred men, "Carmack! I am especially glad to see you, and the tons of explosives and ammunition around you. Despite the differences we have with each other, we are united against Umbrella. They can't defeat us, but it is a reality some of us will die. If that happens, you pick up their weapon and keep going. Over the past five days I have given you the knowledge needed to destroy whatever comes your way while Carmack has supplied the weapons necessary to carry out that knowledge."

A collection of nods, "Right, since all of us are here.. Divide up into your usual squads, the respective leaders will report to me, Anderling, or Saori for orders. Load up in the transports and start handing out weapons. Each of you has your own unique abilities with certain weapons, so I suggest you only take the weapons you have experience with. And remember…."

A long silence, "HEADSHOTS!" she throws her fist in the air, the other soldiers following suit and cheering loudly.

_Let's do this!_

11

"Sir! Sir! Sir! Excuse me! Sir! Sir!"

Augustine sighs and spins around, then screams in pain as the woman following him slams into his person, knocking both to the floor.

"Damn it Spalena…. What the hell is so important you have to chase me down?"

Elena Spalena, no her parents did not think when they named her, quickly stands up and adjusts her lab coat and hair, "I'm sorry sir, but I have news that they're mobilizing…. And they're being trailed by a large… Um…"

The Senior Director of Red Umbrella picks himself up and stares down at her, "Dragon?"

The brunette rapidly nods and tries to hand him a folder of pictures, but in her rushed attitude the folder flies from her arms and slaps her superior across the face in a mess of ink and paper. A light growl fills the hallway and before Augustine can pick up the photos, he is alone, finally.

"Some people need to drink more alcohol around here," he is not one of them, as he grabs his bottle of water that slid several feet from his person due to the contact with one of the more eager members of his staff.

Another pair of footsteps, "Stop right there, don't ask, say, or do anything to provoke my wrath…."

The door to the office of Augustine Millington slams shut in the face of the only man in the base capable of taking his position, "Ohh…. Your time is at hand old man… You think you're so high and mighty… But you'll come crawling to me for mercy…"

11

The rustle of paper and hushed voices calm Amii, Tawny, Salem, and Caryn as they prepare to step into their transport, "So you supplied us with what exactly? Cause that chemical does not look friendly…"

Amii kicks the open canister lightly and says, "Back in the early days, before the whole world knew what Umbrella was up to, they had a chemical specifically designed to counteract the effects of the T and G viruses called P-Epsilon. It was lovingly titled T-Tox by the few people who used it against Umbrella. Since they started making new viruses, the Toxin has been re-engineered to combat it. It has seen a total of… Five formulas… Three of which were designed by my mom and dad."

Caryn stares at it with a disgusted look, "It looks like something Salsa threw up this morning…"

"Caryn!"

"No! You are Salsa!"

Salem and Tawny run their hands down their faces at the mini-battle and turn their attention back to their commander, "What is this one designed to attack?"

"That's," Stracener sighs, "the fun part… First we need to capture a new monster they'll unleash on us… Then we inject this into it… ALL of it… After the monster dies.. About three hours later, we can drain the blood and use it as the new Tox. It's a pain in the ass, but we had to engineer it to be harmless to Gizmo and Salsa."

"Salem!" Ayla actually kicks the door open and runs up to her girlfriend, "Please, I beg you, keep this with you at all times…"

Before Salem can respond, Ayla leans in and kisses the girl, and slides a small book into the side pocket of her Kevlar vest. Both women sit there for a while, Tawny, Amii, and Caryn looking away out of awkwardness.

"Um… Sure Ayla…" Salem is awestruck at the response.

"I love you Salem.." the words are whispered into her ear, but Salem hears them plain as day.

Salem smiles widely and hugs the woman in her arms tighter, then whispers them back just as light as Ayla, "I love you too."

"Hey! They're packing up our transport now! We need to go!" Amii calls to them from the entrance to the residential building.

"Be there in a second 'Mii!" Salem frowns and steps away, but Ayla holds onto her hands.

"Keep her safe and she'll do the same for you, I'm counting on it. Bye you," the raven-haired girls frown and exchange a last glance.

11

"Okay, we've got twenty-four squads; I need everyone to check in please, this is a Communications Check."

Amii releases the com-button on her earpiece and listens as all twenty-four leaders chime in, "Good. Alright make sure all team members are tuned in and listening to orders."

She gives a few minutes as she looks through the large book in her hands, "Alright, there will be four attack squadrons; the leaders already know who belongs where so I'll skip that. I need Group One to lead the assault on the Genetics Lab. They will be assisted by group three. Groups two and four will begin a swift sweep and destroy of the main building."

A crackle followed by a firm voice, "And where will you be Commander?"

Amii smiles widely at the title, "Anderling, Saori, Carmack, and I will be taking over the Experiment Quarter of the facility. That is usually where the Executives are stationed, high above what makes them think they're god. We'll capture who we can and execute the others, at our own discretion of course."

A few random chuckles over the communications link, "But seriously guys, we all need to focus, the success of the group depends on the success of each goal. Watch each other, every person lost will make it harder on the rest."

Uneasy silence overcomes them for the rest of the ride, all the while the four in the back of the line are going over the notes in the small book Amii keeps with her at all times. That book holds the hope of what's left of the sane world, the key to destroying the insane world, and the life of one young woman leading a revolution.

"Get us up front, Alan. Quickly," a hunch eats at her as the transport speeds up.

11

"The fools! What do they think they can accomplish by coming here!?"

Augustine sighs and thumbs through the photos he was handed moments ago, "You know, instead of trying to find out WHY they're coming here, we might want to spend our time figuring out how to take them out."

"Well, what do we have on them? Anything that can be used?"

"No, that won't work," the lead scientist tosses the folder of photographs across the table, "we need to take them out one group at a time. And I know just how to do it to…"

He chuckles and taps the map in front of him, his clean-cut nails tapping on the armory, "Explosives, gentlemen. They'll never expect it, because they believe we won't destroy what we've worked so hard to create."

Countless heads nod in agreement as Director Millington is given the order to prepare the base for detonation. A smile like none that have ever graced his face before shines off the fluorescent lighting as the large man strolls out of the meeting room. Mister Augustine Millington is now what you'd call a kid in a candy store, if that candy store sold sugar-frosted explosives.

**End**


	7. Not a Separate Dream

Evanescence: No More Dreams: Not a Separate Dream

"We'll arrive at the drop-off site in less than thirty minutes, any final preparations you need to do Miss Stracener?" the voice shook Amii from her daydream or day-nightmare as they are to her.

"Hmm? What's going on?" Amii yawns and rubs her arms from the sudden chill that flows through the transport.

"We're almost to the base, anything else we need to do before we're dropped off?" Tawny smiles at her and places a hand on hers and squeezes it softly.

"No, nothing that I can think of, thanks Alan," Amii quietly replies into the earpiece.

"You," Salem looks across the truck at her friend, "okay Amii? You seem distracted, and that's not like you at all."

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about how this will really impact the world. Will there be a happy ending? Or has Umbrella become so intermingled with the workings of this world that it'll fall apart without them? Crazy things like that."

Suddenly their truck grinds to a halt, something blocking off the only entrance to the city of Tucson, Arizona. The four occupants in the rear of the vehicle climb out to inspect their dilemma. What lies before them is something out of a science fiction novel: Many blinking lights reflect off the surroundings as the capsule-like container releases countless volumes of smoke into the air.

"What is it?"

Amii clicks the safety off and glares at the indentation in the side of the metal wall, "I'm more interested in what was in it…." the rather large hand print reflects clearly in her jade eyes.

11

Jake Hazard smiles as he continues to clean his shotgun, which was custom designed by his idol: Dusty Stracener. It was a gift from Amii about three months back, after the two of them shared a lengthy talk about her father and what he's done. It fires shells that are about twice the size of your standard 12-gauge, and each shell houses a different flammable material. Because of the special nature of this gun, Jake only has the shotgun and his bag of shells. At last count there was eight-hundred and thirty-four shotgun shells for a grand total of seventy-five pounds of high explosives.

"Put down that grenade launcher and help us go over the material!"

Jake growls and looks at the new recruit in the truck, "It's a shotgun, a grenade launcher fires off 40mm rounds, mine fires modified shotgun shells. There is a significant difference between your weapon and mine."

Carl Litton sighs and leans back against the canopy, his form denting the cloth out slightly. Most of the people in Truck 12 have slightly fallen asleep, but that ends abruptly when a deep, throaty growl fills their small space. Jake reaches for Carl as a hunch, but as his hand grasps the man's weapon, Carl is pulled through the canopy by a large green hand.

"Shit!" Jake turns and empties two shells into the canopy, each round searing the cloth black.

Gunfire erupts as the twenty-seven men jump out and then stop in horror as they meet the monster that stole their friend. At a monstrous fifteen feet tall and about nine feet wide from shoulder-to-shoulder, this thing dwarfs them all. Its green-tinted skin ripples in anticipation of killing, but it doesn't move. A gasp fills the air as Carl twitches in the hand, his arms snapped from the tight grip.

"He-… Elp me… Do- do- et -im e-t me…."

"Shut up Carl…." Jake slowly raises his weapon, the weight finally becoming a burden.

The monster bends its knees down and roars loudly, the sheer force of the sound enough to knock the men back into each other. It raises one muscular leg and drops it down, the ground shaking ferociously. Finally it plants its free hand flat on the ground and grunts softly, a large shockwave flowing out from the extremity.

_Oh sweet lord, it's a Hulk-Creature… _Jake tucks in his body as the wave of earth sends his team into the air.

Jake lands hard on his left leg and watches as a few land on their necks with sickening cracks, never to move again, while the rest land on various, safer parts of their bodies. He quickly rallies the survivors up with a swift motion of his hand, then he readies his weapon as the Hulk-monster runs at them, each step shaking the earth.

"Take out the legs! Then move in on the arms! Disable it!"

Gunfire erupts all around him as handguns, magnums, shotguns, and a rocket launcher fire at the monster's legs. A brief feeling of victory is crushed as it jumps into the air, the ammunition connecting with bare dirt. As the smoke clears, the monster and Carl are nowhere to be found.

Jake grits his teeth in rage and reaches to press his earpiece, "Come in Amii!"

11

"Yes Jake?" Amii turns from the canister and listens closely.

"My god, thank god I got through…." his voice is rushed and panicky. "We came across a Hulk-Creature, don't know where it came from, or where it went, it took Carl."

"Calm down!" Amii spins around and glares at the loose tubes and electrodes resting in the seat, "We're coming back for you, just stay there!"

"Sure thing, won't move."

"Go! Back of the line!" Amii trades the M93R for her M79 and bursts into the fastest run of her life, _Don't be dead, please don't be dead…_

11

"NNNNNOOOO!" the redheaded leader drops to her knees and stares at the carnage before her.

There were three trucks in the back of the line, 'were' meaning that all that's left of them are three hunks of burning metal and countless broken bodies. The earth is almost black with the amount of blood and fluids, the air heavy with the scent of burning gasoline and flesh. Salem turns away from the scene and empties the contents of her stomach on the barren dirt.

"Oh, hello Mr. Pancake… Ugh…" the raven-haired woman groans.

"All this death…. It wasn't needed… Unnecessary…. THEY'LL PAY!" Amii leans back and screams into the night sky, tears rolling down the sides of her pale face.

Tawny holds his assault rifle tight in his grip, unsure about what to do, "Come on, we can't make them pay just sitting here."

Silence, then several raspy sobs as Amii swipes the tears from her bloodshot eyes, "Right."

Out of twelve trucks, nine remain; a lot of their best were lost to the monster no one saw. Amii vows to kill the monster, and then take out the monsters that created it. Attached to the end of that vow is a single, heart-felt wish…

_Protect me, dad._

11

"Where's number Four!?" Augustine's face is flush with anger and voice filled with rage as he stares at the eight clones, out of nine.

The one on the end raises his visor and stares at the scientist with dark brown eyes and speaks softly in a monotone, "He wasn't in his stasis chamber this morning, sir."

"WHAT!?" the senior director charges down the line and matches stares with the one who spoke, "What do you mean? How could he have gotten out?"

"Apparently," Number Two speaks this time, with the same monotone and brown-eyed stare, "he shot through it with a small caliber handgun."

_Great, seems Rita was right and one of them would develop a consciousness…_ Augustine sighs and claps his hands, drawing the attention of all eight men, "Find him!"

They all nod, slide the mirrored visors down, and take the safeties off their weapons, then run down the hall. As he is finally left alone, Augustine takes out his cell phone and dials a short extension number.

"We need to find him before he starts to remember, and finds HER once she gets here," the voice on the other end replies to this and the balding male sighs, "I understand, Craft. I'll get it taken care of."

11

_Where am I? Who am I?_

The one called Four rests against the wall of some hallway, having lost count since he started his sprint this morning. It was no easy task hiding the gun before being put in the stasis chamber; it was an even harder task making sure the others were too far into their sleep to be awakened by the exploding chamber. His brown hair is matted to his face, his brown eyes lighter than the other eight, and the small Beretta lying loose in his right hand. Unlike the person he was based after, his right leg isn't in a brace, nor does he need glasses, but he has a strong urge to blow something up, and eat.

_I only remember the word Aya… What is Aya? Or Who? Where the hell can I get a good chili-dog around here? _The man stops and his eyes scan the name of the room in front of him.

"Armory? Oh ho boy…" a childish smirk crosses his lips as he walks up to the door and kicks the door open.

"Crap, crap, useless, too hefty, too light, too much plastic, AHA!" a decently-sized handgun is raised; the number M93R is etched along the barrel, the modified clip resting a good two inches under the grip.

"Come on, where are the explo- Oh my god…." as far back as he can remember, that being about three weeks ago, he has never laid eyes on a more beautiful weapon.

Resting before Four is a long tube, about five-feet long and a foot in diameter. Next to that lies several small cases marked, "Danger: Explosives". What this strange man has found is none other than a small arsenal for a Rocket Launcher.

"I love you…" he plants a few soft kisses on the top of it, then looks around for more goodies.

_What is causing me to want these things? To act this way? WHO AM I!?_

11

He's called One, the leader of the Fusion-Genome Project. The monotone soldier takes light, sturdy steps toward the open armory door, his ears having picked up the sound of movement. Senses that have been refined with the help of Fusion and tuned with years of training pick up on the hidden trail leading to the armory. A chuckle almost inaudible to normal ears sounds like a gunshot in One's ears, his face still showing no expression as he raises his M4A1 to eye-height.

"Can't believe I found this!" the sounds of Velcro straps fill the hallway as the Fusion Genome Soldier steps ever closer to the door left only slightly ajar.

"Hehe, twenty-three clips of 9mm ammunition for the M93R, a few dozen 40mm grenades for the M203... This awesome rocket launcher that I doubt I'll get to use… And…" One ducks back through the door as a bullet pierces the metal frame just centimeters from where his face once occupied.

_His reaction speed is equal to ours even after gaining awareness… Not a good sign at all._ It's not worry, but tactical analysis that rushes through the Genome's mind in the time it takes him to return to the door to Millington's office.

His hand barely reaches the door before it's flung open and he's staring into the flaring eyes of his 'master' for lack of a better term. Dozens of veins are bulging across the little amount of exposed skin, sweat pours from his forehead and arms, staining his lab coat already. Every few seconds his eyes will dart away, look around, then return to the stone-cold gaze of the soldier before him. Breathing is erratic, a small blood stain rests on his upper arm, which locks in and confirms One's suspicions.

"Sir, if I may be frank, I doubt tranquilizers are a good idea right now. I bring slightly distressing news about Four," his tone is steady, calculating, as he's been trained to be.

11

"What?" Augustine clears his throat and quickly straightens himself up.

He was just on his way to throw up in the restroom when his favorite Genome Soldier walked up. It took absolutely no time for him to recognize what was wrong with him, which is no surprise to their creator. What does surprise him though, is how upfront and blunt One is about it.

"Four apparently is about equal to our strengths, his reaction time is still spot on, as is his aim," One keeps his stance straight, face unreadable, tone unemotional.

"Uh huh," clearly uninterested, Director Millington turns from the soldier and reaches for his packet of folders for his presentation to the Umbrella Executives, but One slams a fist into the wall and growls deeply.

This action startles Augustine for one reason and one reason alone: The Genome Project was designed to remove emotion from the subjects, and here, One just displayed anger.

_Maybe I need to send them back in for another set of injections… No, that will make them more unstable. This must be investigated at a later date…_

"Okay, you have my undivided attention. What is your problem?"

One's face relaxes a little, his commander taking quick notes of this as well, "What I am saying is… Four is developing a…. Soul, for lack of a better term. Sir."

"What?" Augustine's eyes have never shown more shock than they do right now, "What the hell do you mean a soul?"

"Well, sir," One locks eyes with the older man, "his voice has softened, more emotion lies in everything he does, and he remembers… Things…"

"What things?"

"The name Aya for instance. He's laughing; he has an affinity to the M93R and explosives… And he has changed… Changed how he holds things."

"Hmm?"

One looks around, trying to find the right words, which is not how he designed them, "All of us are left-handed. He is now doing everything with the right hand. Writing, using his weapons, and frankly sir, I have never known anyone to be that accurate with a weapon after changing which hand he fires it. Ever."

"One, I need you to go to your stasis chamber and rest for a while, you don't look well," Augustine is ready to shoot One if he turns out to be Four, but there is no need as he salutes and walks off.

The older male sighs and stumbles back into his chair, then sighs loudly, "Oh my god!"

11

"We didn't expect them to know we're coming! Let alone shoot at-" the convoy is rocked by a loud explosion, signaling the oncoming battle for Amii and her troops.

While everyone else in her transport flies around like rag dolls, Amii is stationary and settled in a prayer, at least that's what it looks like to everyone else. Unbeknownst to them Amii has her legs wrapped around the supports for the bench she's sitting on and she's planning the first attack.

_Jesus, I didn't know they'd have this kind of firepower…_ Amii toils over the massive amounts of information she's gaining from listening to the rockets hitting too close to home.

_Whoever this is attacking us… They have disgustingly accurate aim for this distance away… _"Crampton! Turn left!"

The large truck swerves as the driver follows the instruction, the path taking them down a rugged path through the forest. Branches tear at the cloth canopy as everyone finally regains their seating.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" Tawny straightens his Mohawk and sighs.

"So far we've lost 3 trucks… The plan needs to be rethought completely… I know we've got 2 trucks behind us, possibly a third behind them… Hand me my radio."

The small device is tossed her way and is clicked to life, "Change of plans, we're just gonna storm the project hub. I won't bother giving any thought to the old plan now. We've lost too many people now."

"Roger!" the reply is repeated several times as the remaining truck leaders call in.

Amii drops the remote and starts loading her shoulder straps with grenades and her leg holster with clips of 9mm rounds. Tawny and Salem both follow suit, using shotgun shells and machine gun clips respectively. Caryn feeds Salsa another carrot and then stares at the group.

"You don't really expect me to go in there do you?"

"Yes," the three reply in unison.

11

_Click! BEEP!_ A small red light on a brown pack of gunk blinks faintly as Four continues to walk down the hallway, the box of C4 now about half empty.

_Click! BEEP!_

_Click! BEEP!_

"Hehe, I love explosives… Nothing like the smell of plastic explosive in the afternoon."

The Fusion-Clone smiles and bends down to plant some more, but the gunk lands on a boot-clad foot, "Ahem. Just what are you doing Four?"

_Four? Who's Four?_ The smiling soldier stands up and slams his right shoulder into the strange person's face, then takes off down the hall, a small metallic device in his hand.

"Bye!" the button is pressed, then the building begins to shake as explosion after explosion sound off.

What he thinks is the door out is growing closer as the lights begin to flicker wildly. From what he can remember, there are four more buildings like this one. It took half a crate of C4 to demolish this place…

The brunette stops and taps his fingers on the crate, "I need more explosives…"

A fist is shoved into his jaw and a monotone voice picks up, "You need to be taught a lesson."

The crate slams into the tile as Four is planted into the wall, dust flying around him in a pale cloud. The wall cracks as the freshly awaken soldier is dragged out by his attacker, the dust and debris clouding the face that punched him.

"Gah!" the mystery-man kicks Four in the side, then drops him down, bending his legs backwards.

"Give up and return with me to your Injection-Chamber Four!"

_That voice, sounds like me…_ the dust finally clears and Four gets a good long look at the man beating the crap out of him.

"No! You're me!"

"We're the same. You, me, and the other seven. Clones alike and the same," the dead emotion in the voice chills the pinned man to his core.

A quick sweep of his legs and Four is up and running again, this time emptying his handgun into the clone's body, trying to slow him down even a little bit. The rounds are useless as his attacker hasn't moved, and is taking the shots like a kid takes a water balloon. Four kicks the door open and spins around, taunting his clone to come closer. The bullet-riddled man obliges and starts a steady walk, while his target aims his weapon one more time.

"You saw what the first eleven did! What makes you think this one shot will be any different?"

"Cause I'm not aiming at you!"

His human reflection spins around and stares at the box of C4, just as a bullet punctures the box and sets it off. Four barely has time to see his attacker fly back from the initial shockwave before he himself is blown back into the forest. Branches snap around him before he finally slams into a tree, the force knocking him unconscious just as a large truck pulls to a screeching halt several meters from the destroyed complex.

11

"Bring him to me! Now!" Augustine spits into the com-unit as his PDA signals the destruction of the Viral Research Compound.

Seven distinct voices reply, "Wait…"

Augustine quickly scribbles in his personal computer and growls loudly, it appears that each Fusion Genome Soldier is developing their own… He doesn't want to say it, but they are developing their own unique personalities. As the researcher prods his mind for an explanation, the screen full of wave-patterns spins away to reveal the face of One, the lips pressed in deep concentration.

"It seems he incapacitated Three. Would you prefer we group together and take him out? Or shall we each attempt to get him with our own means?" the voice is cold, colder than normal.

"You're the leader, lead them," is all the scientist replies with before he turns the computer off and manually locks his door.

Augustine Samson Millington needs to be left alone for now, all this new information flying at him faster than his mere human mind can comprehend it. The aging man picks up his PDA and scribbles notes on the Plexiglas screen. The notes aren't typical scrawls of ideas, but complex equations from his mental notes of the Fusion Genome Syndrome.

Fusion Genome Syndrome, a disease predicted by a young little upstart. Gary Kocher was a fresh graduate with a Master's Degree in Psychology, so Umbrella decided to place Gary in Millington's team as a psychological adviser. This decision did not please the director and creator of the Genome Program. Ever since the little snot was dropped in his lap, Mr. Kocher has been nothing but trouble, finding every little snippet to judge and degrade his work.

At the last meeting Gary Kocher proposed the idea that if they base the Project off the one person with the most hate for their company, that imbedded hate would force the Genomes to react differently to the virus. The mind is always the strongest part of the body, start screwing with that, and it WILL retaliate. Most of the directors, Millington himself included, laughed at this theory. Only two actually listened, the Senior Director of the facility: James Roods, and the Project Supervisor: Krystal Williams.

Well, shortly after that, funding started to wane with no reasoning from those two. And Gary Kocher just suddenly disappeared. Disappeared meaning that his body was used as the basic…. Host Cell for the nine Fusion Clones that now roam the facility. None of the directors have bothered to investigate the matter, because it's actually standard practice for the Lead Researcher to use troublesome 'advisers' as subjects in their experiments. That fact is almost a requirement to work for Umbrella, pure uncaring sadism.

_I think the actual creator of the sadism rule was.. Spencer? I think he ordered Birkin and Wesker to assassinate the man they worked for… The people he trusted.. Then there was Wesker himself… He betrayed the whole company… Just to serve his own means. Birkin was killed by the Umbrella Special Operations… Umbrella is just a company of backstabbers._ The thought is secondary to Augustine's main line of thinking as he scans the formula before him.

Nothing is adding up, not a damn thing. All the formulas in the world aren't going to account for the additive of mystery, and human surprise. So far nothing has even begun to prick at the monster that is the souls of these genomes. The frustration gives way to a rather distinctive migraine, ushering the aggravated doctor to reach for his special medication.

The light purple liquid is a special strand of Fusion, designed to repair the damage done by a genetic disorder that affects his brain. Small doses do the job; anything larger than a tea spoon will actually begin to mutate him. Alas, Augustine has been cautious about that little detail. The bottle has a specially designed lid that regulates the dose to one teaspoon at a time. And since he keeps the bottle locked in his desk, it prevents tampering from anyone but himself.

"God… Why can't I figure this one out either?" he's referring to the medicine again. There were several people working on this medication, trying to design the virus to actually cure the genetic disorder, but no luck. No matter how many different concoctions or brain cell tests they did, all they could do was reverse the damage done thus far. So as it stands, his disorder goes in a never-ending loop. Damage, repair, damage, repair, damage, repair. But all of that is useless thinking as his pressing matter still needs attending….

_Always so busy…_

**END**


	8. Just a Shot in the Dark

Evanescence: No More Dreams: Just a Shot in the Dark

Nothing could prepare them for what lies before the four people that piled out of the lead transport. The skin is horribly burnt, smoke still billowing from the corpse as it twitches against the tree it landed in. The eyes are horribly glazed, the hair just completely disintegrated. Nothing remains to identify this person by normal means…

"Salsa!" everyone looks down at the monster as it jumps from Caryn's arms and onto the burnt cadaver.

"Did he just call himself…" she is cut off as Amii bends down and watches the orange fur ball with interest.

Salsa slowly pokes the body with one clawed paw, then with a high-pitched whine, smacks the charred face with the paw. It repeats this motion several times; each smack causes more black and crispy skin to fly into the air. Caryn reaches for her pet, but Amii holds up a hand.

"No, leave him. Apparently he has some connection to this person… Whoever it was…"

"No, we need to go. I don't like the looks of this.. Plus all the smoke from that building can't be healthy for any of us….." Caryn's voice has a slight hint of apprehensiveness, that all of them feel as of this moment.

The little monster is pulled away from the corpse, giving it reason to hiss and whine at his mother, the yellow eyes never moving from the smoking body leaning against the tree. Amii pulls out a small map from her back pocket, the small square unfolding to about seven times its original size. Several large red circles cover the diagram, marking the locations of their targets. No one really pays attention as she begins to erase the lines, needing to sit a moment and rethink her plan.

"It's quiet…" Salem looks up into the trees.

Tawny steps next to her and replies, "Yeah, kind of peaceful…"

"I don't like it," Caryn is abrupt about it, startling the other two. "It's too quiet for me… No animals going off.. No crickets, cicadas, monkeys, dinosaurs…"

Four eyes stare at the brunette, "What? If this virus created Moomba, why not dinosaurs?"

Amii never looks away from the map, "If we find a dinosaur here, you get to kill it Carmack…"

"Damn it…."

11

Even though his eyes are glazed over, the man known as Four watches without movement as the four people poke and stare at him. Why they aren't carrying him with them is beyond his comprehension. He can't move, his body not responding for some reason. They think he's dead, why do they think he's dead? Nothing seems right about this, but the man can't move, can't speak, and can't do anything! As the four people move away and out of sight, something happens…

His skin starts to lighten in color, turning yellow, then it begins to liquefy, coating his whole body in canary-colored fluid. A groan makes it way from his throat as his vocal cords finally begin to release, his muscles relaxing now, allowing more movement. Everything is calculated to repair his body from the searing heat of the C4 explosion. Within minutes Four is standing, looking like it never happened, well, with burnt clothes.

_The barracks are located in Building Fox… Second Floor, end of the T-intersection to the left of the elevator…_ the brunette stops all thought and blinks at his massive knowledge of this facility..

No longer than a second later, he shakes his head and takes off toward the far end of the facility, his fists clenching in anticipation. Anticipation of what? Only time will tell..

11

"He's WHAT!?" Augustine's rage that One managed to hack into his PDA is pushed aside at the news he brings.

"Sir," One stares lifelessly through the screen, "the repair function of Fusion kicked in. He's alive and well, again, sir. Three proves this, it's like the explosion never happened."

Not good news, not good at all, but there are more pressing matters the scientist needs to attend to, "Go after him. I want you to take him out."

Suddenly laughter erupts from the other side of the communication, white dust covering the screen, "One?"

"Sir, apparently Three is developing a personality, he's a little jester sir," the cloud finally fades away, revealing that One is now covered in what appears to be powdered chalk. "He loaded my PDA with chalk and rigged it to explode when you said the word, 'out'. Two and I have detained him until you can come by to investigate this change."

Augustine growls loudly and slams his fists into the desk, dropping the device into his lap, "Just take out Four!"

_What the hell is happening to my perfect soldiers?_

11

"Will you stop laughing?" Two clones hold another down as he laughs maniacally.

"Oh man! Did you see the look on your face One!? It was FANTASTIC!" another fit of laughter as One swipes more chalk from his face with the back of his hand.

"Enough," One drops his right elbow into Three's left temple, rendering him unconscious for now.

Two sighs in relief and drops into a chair a few feet from the table, "What do we do about him?"

"Nothing for now," the leader types away at the computer console, trying to find his target. A few minutes of clicking and his goal is accomplished, "He's heading to Fox. Two, you stay here and watch Three, I'm going after Four."

A slight chuckle from the table, "That was clever, One. 'Two, Three, Four' all in a row.. HAHAHAHAHAH!"

Two jumps up and pins the laughing freak to the table, groaning at the amount of fight Three has in him, "Come on guys! I'll play fair!"

"Disgusting…." One slams the door shut as he steps out.

11

The Stasis Room in Building Zero is quiet; one would believe the room is empty if it were not for the five bodies floating in their cells. Another five clones, the other half of the Genome Project. Resting comfortably in the chemical bath are clones Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine. They are the muscle of the team, the special ops of the special ops if you will. They work in sync; each knows how to work with the others perfectly. There's a joke going around the facility that if five through nine were women, they'd PMS at the same time….

"_Chamber Activation for chamber E beginning,_" Five's chamber flickers to life and the chemicals begin to drain away.

The message repeats for each chamber, going all the way to letter I. Five hisses fill the room as the cells are cracked open, the soldiers stepping out and instinctively reaching for their combat uniforms on the other side of the room. Clicks and cords stretching echo in unison, then the five Fusion Soldiers turn and walk out the door in perfect step. If ever there was a creepier sight to see, they probably have killed it to remain top.

"Good, you're all awake," One paces in front of them, if he was capable of it, he'd smile at the perfection.

"Sir," they all snap a salute.

"Our target is one of our own. Four. He's rejected the last few doses of Fusion and is going insane, feeling he must destroy the compound… Your mission is to find and eliminate him. Understand?"

"Sir," another creepy simultaneous salute.

"Good, go," he waves them off.

_Why do I feel different? _One stops at the thought and shakes his head; he just needs to get another dose of Fusion soon.

He turns on his heels and quickly makes good time back to his 'office', that word meaning the monitor station he's taken residence in. Two and Three greet him, but a light chuckle from the third person makes One slowly take his gloved hand off the lever for the door. A loud squelch means that Three talked Two into a prank, the epoxy hardening almost instantly.

A deep, guttural growl fills the small room as One pulls his hand, the lever snapping off easily, "Come…. Here…."

Two stares at One and tries to walk around him, but his leader wraps an arm around his neck. Two gasps and grabs the arm, trying to pry it away, but the clone is easily thrown against the wall by their monotone commander. Three gasps and starts to chuckle, which slowly turns into uncontrollable laughter. A foot is planted in Three's face, the force enough to knock him out cold.

Brown eyes stare into frantic brown eyes, "You scared, Two?"

"No," the face hardens and a throat is cleared. "No sir."

"Good…" One spins around and glares at the face in the doorway, "Why are you here?"

Judging by the number on his right shoulder plate of the armor, Seven snaps a salute and replies quickly and in the same monotone One uses, "Someone has started releasing the other Fusion Programs outside. Millington used his override privileges to bypass the security system and started with the NH's sir."

One walks past Seven and quickly marches toward the office of his superior, _He's going to pay for this…We CAN handle him…_

11

One was released earlier, now the other fourteen are loose. They were first put into combat on the Fresh Water Oil Rig, then brought in to defend the Neo-Raccoon Facility. They remained unchanged during the Neo-Raccoon Incident, but this time around, the new advances in Genetic Augmentation have allowed Umbrella to refine the Hulk Creatures. What was once twelve feet tall and about two tons in weight has been reduced to a small stature, now about nine feet tall and weighing in at a drastically reduced seven-hundred pounds. None of the Weapons of the past will be seen here today, not in their original forms at least, except one single monster, the one released earlier to slow the convoy down. The new advances in Fusion's design have evolved the methods used to create Weapons of War.

The only sign to the monsters that have been unleashed is the single row of shattered stasis cells, as Four soon comes to see…..

11

"What in the name of heav…." the phrase can't complete itself as the unknown soldier stares at the destruction..

Whatever they are, they must be huge to cause this amount of turmoil and trash, but the invaders are gone. Four quickly paces the room, his nose picking up a familiar scent that smells faintly of roses. A quick flash of memories and the answer appears: it's the same scent that was in the stasis chamber he woke up in. The smell makes him nauseated and light-headed, causing his hands to wrap around one of the overhead water pipes for stability.

"Ugh… Why do roses make me sick?" the brunette clone frowns as his vision blurs, almost like he's losing his sight.

_Dusty! Let Shawn have the last crescent roll!_ The face that flashes in his mind is that of a small red-haired Asian woman, the name Aya yet again coming to mind.

_Who is this Dusty? And why does the name Aya haunt me?_ Something flashes across the room.

Pipes clatter and steam vents hiss as Four slowly makes his way toward the flash, hoping to see it sparkle again amongst his fading vision. A gloved hand reaches into the crevasse and feels something light and cold. With a small grunt the item is dislodged and Four finds himself staring down at a single pair of wire-rim glasses. They have a familiar feeling to them as they are slid on, his vision becoming perfect again.

"Creepy…" but what is even weirder is the badge resting above the hidden location of the glasses.

Four picks it up between his thumb and index finger, the small card being a police badge… The name Dusty Stracener resting above his picture and under the line 'Riley Police Department'.

"I'm… Dusty?" the thought can't go much farther as a knife whines in the air, his head ducking to the left to dodge it.

"Grr…." the form at the doorway jumps through the air, his body miraculously missing the pipes and wires.

Four jumps toward his assailant and plants both feet into the mystery man's head, knocking both of them back to where they launched from. His glasses glare over as the form stands up and cracks his neck, the sound eerily dry and empty.

"Four…" the voice is like his, but dry, dull, lifeless…

Suddenly the goggle-eyed man finds himself hoisted into the air by two wet tubes wrapped around his arms. With a gaze down he realizes they're not tubes, but tentacles, attached to the mystery assailant. The person before him growls loudly and flings Four into the wall, his head connecting harder than the rest…

This hit jars another memory loose; _I will come back for you Aya… I will… I must finish this first…_

"I… I am…" Four slowly pushes himself up from the floor, his words apparently confusing his enemy.

His right hand wraps around the grip of the M93R in the holster, "I am Dusty Stracener… And you can't kill me… Not until I finish…"

The number 9 flashes in a light as Nine tilts his head in question, "Not until I finish…." the clone named Dusty growls and runs at Nine, his middle finger quickly squeezing the trigger as his index switches the handgun from semi-auto to 3-burst. Nine reels back from the sudden onslaught of gunfire, but recoils back and slams his head directly into his target's chest, knocking the wind straight out of him.

Dusty retains his ground and holds his chest, "Not until I finish my job…"

"And what," Nine cracks his knuckles and stares blankly into the reject's eyes, "is your job?"

"Heh," the brunette smiles and reloads his weapon slowly, "to destroy you and the other clones….."

11

Gunfire erupts as the door explodes and several large beings fill the compound that Amii decided to destroy first, "How the hell do we kill these!?"

The redhead leader scrambles her brain to figure out what exactly they are fighting. They look like the Hulk Creatures from the pictures in the journal, but 'like' is the key word. These beings are shorter, skinnier; just overall look more ferocious than the way they were described in the pages of the black book. One looks down at Amii and growls, its hand already raising and clenching into a fist. Her eyes never waver from the monster as Tawny, Salem, and Caryn open fire on the first to attack. Without anything more than a clench of its teeth, a shockwave flies from its footing and knocks all four fighters into the air and down to the ground several yards away.

"What…" Tawny stands up slowly, the machine gun already aimed toward the pack of creatures.

"Shockwave from the massive amounts of energy stored in its muscles…. Don't let it punch you…" Amii wipes the sweat from her brow and loads the M79 with a green-tinted grenade.

Salem groans in light pain and quickly stands up her shotgun pumped and ready to go, "Well, let them have it…"

"Have," Amii snaps the barrel shut on the launcher, "what?"

"The ass-kicking they deserve.." Tawny keeps a tight stare at the monster in front.

Seven distinct roars echo from the pack as their leader runs forward, its powerful legs pushing it ever faster, but Amii fires the weapon. The heat is almost unbearable as green flames fill the small room, the four warriors already diving for the ground and hopefully cover. All sound mingles into one completely out-of-tune note as the flames devour the first monster, the chemical compound deadly upon exposure. When the flames eventually die down the smoke is parted by three forms, signaling the next wave.

_They're coordinating…_the thought doesn't go much farther as she breaks open the barrel, drops the empty shell and quickly jams in another.

Each thunderous footstep creates a separate shockwave, meaning the ground is never stable enough to aim. After the third attempt to get a bead on the one in front, Amii growls and jumps into the air, gaining a single second of balanced aim. Her finger squeezes the trigger as her mind is filled with that perfect moment of peace, the moment where she knows it will work.

"Go!" Tawny grabs his girl from the air and the four run back down the hall as the grenade connects and another wave of green heat and flames licks at their backs.

_What have I started?_

11

The smoke finally clears, two of the seven Neo Bio-Organic Weapons are dead, the other five sitting in lost competence, the preset leader dead. A beep fills the air and one of the Hulk Creatures grunts and steps forward, their programming choosing this one to be the new leader. Its black eyes gaze around the hallway and its fists clench in rage at its fallen brethren. A roar escapes his lips, the sheer force of the sound causing a shockwave to fly from its body, the other four following in suit. The whole building rumbles and slowly begins to crumble away, the initial waves having shattered the support pillars for the Living Quarters.

From the rubble rise five unscathed monsters, ten pairs of eyes staring at the Research and Development Building. Suddenly their leg muscles contract and extend, sending the beasts into the air and down in front of the next building of choice. The leader releases a growl and the doorway shatters, allowing them access.

11

Screams of rage flow from the decimated laboratory as the two clones continue their battle. Several empty clips of ammunition litter the floor, marking the path this fight has taken around, over, and through the machinery that line the floor and walls. Several gunshots ring out, a machine sparks and explodes, sending Nine through the crisp air. His body slams into another computer, but the mutant is back up in no time, ready for more.

Dusty gasps for air in this short reprieve, but the breath catches in his throat as he watches his target change, slightly, "What in the name of heaven?"

Nine's eyes turn into slits and fill with red blood, his tentacles extend and begin to swing around faster and wilder, and three horns grow from his forehead. The mutating freak chuckles dryly and lunges at Dusty, who dives to the left. The move is useless as the horns create a spark of electricity that hits the soldier in his back. The pain is unique, not really painful, but noticeable.

_A full blast of that would've hurt like a sonofabitch… _a quick roll to avoid an onslaught of tentacles, then a flip to regain his footing and dodge a kick from Nine.

This is bad, Nine has Dusty on the defensive, not where he needs to be right now. The brunette frowns as he comes to a subtle realization: he's going to have to run and escape. Running is just not in his blood, but this fight will never end if this keeps up. Dusty's regained knowledge gave him an advantage, but this mutation of Nine leveled the playing field.

A deep roar, flash of electricity, then an explosion, Dusty takes this as his cue to leave. He dives through the smoke-filled hole and cuts left, his arm almost clipping a fire extinguisher on the wall. The man just keeps running, rounding corners, jumping through doors, soon he finds himself outside of a large hole in the wall. Apparently something broke into the R&D lab during his fight….

_Why didn't I see them though?_

**END**


	9. Never Again

Evanescence: No More Dreams: Never Again

"What do you mean he got away?" One holds the radio in his still sticky hand as Nine growls on the other end, the sound almost unintelligible.

A growl of rage and the radio is shattered, blood flowing from a cut in his hand. Within seconds of the initial drop of blood, gauze is unrolled and wrapped around the wound tightly. The leader of the slowly-changing Fusion Genome Project sighs at this change of events and walks back into the main room, where six of the original nine are gathered.

"Well anything to report? Seven? Six?" he looks at both with a dead glare.

They both snap salutes and stand up, "Sir! We found the other intruders. They managed to kill two of the Neo Hulks," as usual it's said in time, everything coordinated down to their tone…

One feels his skin crawl at how creepy the scene is, but shakes the feeling off, "Did you stop them?"

Seven and Six look at each other and reply, "No sir. We felt it was best to watch and learn their tactics. Plus there is something special we think you should know…"

"I'm waiting," One is growing impatient; they've never waited to reveal information.

"The grenades they used completely disintegrated the creatures. There was no sign of their existence once the smoke cleared. Also we got a sniff of the cloud and we regret to say we believe it also affects us…"

"Evidence?" this is unsettling news.

Both clones step away from each other and pry their body armor off, then tear open their shirts, revealing a very disturbing sight. The skin running from their neck down to their lungs is bubbled and discolored a deep, humble green color. The smell is something else altogether, burnt flesh meets frying rotten eggs. One pulls out a knife and cuts a chunk off of Seven's chest, the wound sprouting blood for a few seconds then it seals shut.

The flap of skin is tossed at Five, who cringes at the feel of it, "Take that to Millington. Have him analyze the compound inherent in the grenade.."

11

"What the hell is this Five?" Millington stares at the chunk of, something before him.

Five salutes and replies, "One wants you to find out what causes our flesh to do that."

Augustine sighs and picks up the skin; it's hot to the touch, almost on fire. It's spongy, as though its base components are breaking down. He squeezes the object and frowns as the part under pressure just disappears, disintegrated into nothing.

"It's Fission. Whoever is attacking our base has a way to get a hold of our antigen… They're good. Too good to be here."

Five nods and steps out, ready to relay the information to his leader. The scientist frowns and tosses the flesh into a Petri dish, not really sure what to do now. He released the Hulk Creatures to counteract the new threats; they carry the antigen to Fusion… So far every attempt he's made to up the ante has been shot down, it's a perfectly slanted fight, in his enemies' favor… It's almost enough to drive a man to suicide, but not this one, Augustine is going to tough it out, not drown in his own vomit like Donnelly did, not suffer at the hands of those he tried to kill like so many before him.. Augustine Millington pulls out his PDA and proceeds to make a phone call, to the man himself.

The phone rings a few times, then a deep voice answers, "What is it this time Millington?"

"Sorry to bother you sir, but I have a problem," the director of the rebuilt facility hides his uneasiness about calling the CEO of Umbrella.

A silence suddenly cut in half by the other end of the phone, "What do I need to send?"

A smirk like no other crosses Millington's lips, "How soon can you have thermite bombs ready for transport?"

"You want to destroy your facility?" the voice doesn't really show emotion, or interest, he asks the question because it's required of his role.

"Yes sir," sweat pours from his forehead, "I want to eradicate the last remaining forces that can stop us."

"Very well Millington, I'll send the jets out within the hour."

"Thank you, Albert," a growl and the line is closed.

That bastard will never understand what it's like to make the final call to destroy your own facility, your life's work… Albert Wesker has never known what it's like to make the ultimate gamble…. Never….. Augustine grinds his teeth and picks up the radio, the relay button pressed, already barking orders before One can even acknowledge the voice. Everything from preparing the base for demolition, to another growl of Four must be stopped. If it wasn't for the rage he feels from Wesker's lack of emotion, Millington's orders might make sense…

"I don't care! Just find him! What was that? NO! Lay out the charges!" he paces the room, the veins in his forehead swelling with anger, "What do you mean, 'where are the charges?'? You're supposed to find Four!"

11

One growls audibly and crushes the radio in his hands, "We need to get rid of him…"

The table of men nod slowly as Five steps in, "Fission."

The leader sighs loudly and replies, "Okay… The compound they are using in the grenades is lethal to us as well. This means extreme caution must be used to take them out. Stealth and silence are our key rules now. Do not engage until I give you the go ahead. Which means radio contact must be maintained."

The orders would be a little contradictory if the Genome's form of communication wasn't a surgically implanted transmitter than uses an encrypted frequency. To anyone that actually hacks into the frequency, the communication will sound like a series of music from Beethoven. The soldiers stand up and walk out single file, each step and breathe in perfect unison.

"Three," One stops the giggling manic, "take care of Augustine. Quietly."

"Hehe," is the only reply he receives before he is left alone.

_Well we shall see how the chess pieces move this round._

11

Several gasping breaths fill the air around Dusty as he leans back and looks up at the night sky from his position in a tree. His eyes dart down and examine the four humans stopping directly below him. A flash appears in his mind, that of a pregnant woman standing in an open doorway, her hair flashing about wildly from several gusts of wind.

_Aya… My daughter…_he can't believe it at first, that his wife had another kid that is his…

_No, not mine… Dusty's kid… I'm just his reincarnation… But of all nine of us, why did I get the memories? What made Fusion choose me? _Another set of questions that won't ever be answered, that he is sure of, at least not until he meets the man behind the virus…

"So, what is our plan of attack 'Mii?" _'Mii must be my daughter…_

No mistaking it, the stance, the weapons, the look, it just screams Stracener. The man next to her, judging by her glances at him, the light touches to his arms, that must be her romantic interest. The raven-haired woman behind his daughter, that is most likely their good friend…

_Trudie… _It's the same set up as his last few missions. But there's one extra person, someone that doesn't fit the equation. She's a rather loud, obnoxious brunette with a magnum.

_Modified at that too… Girl knows her stuff; I'll give her that, _not much more time for thought as the trees around his perch shake and crack as more monsters arrive to take the group on.

"Well, here I g-"

"Tawny, flank left, take out their knees as they pass, Salem, aim for the heads. Caryn, please don't do anything dumb…"

"He-" the woman named Caryn can't reply as a tree is swung at the group, clipping them all and forcing them toward the large lab.

"Amii!" Dusty drops down from the tree and lands hard on the ground, his eyes resting on the lonely M79 Grenade Launcher.

"I'm coming for ya' Amii!" his hands wrap around the stock of the weapon and his boots push him faster toward the fight.

11

"Amii!"

_What? Who was that?_ The voice is unfamiliar, yet calming to her, causing her to focus on the fight before her.

The remaining five Neo-Hulks continue their slow, calculating movements toward the battered heroes, each step shaking the earth beneath them all. Tawny raises his weapon, but Amii raises her hand, her eyes dark and focused. Even though it looks as though she is sentencing them all to death, she has tapped into an unknown power from her dad's side of the family. Her mom made a mention of it, but Amii tossed it aside as a rumor, a lie she made up to make Amii appreciate her dad more.

Time slows down as Amii raises her handgun, pumping off a quick round into the left eye socket of the Hulk in front, "Left!"

The three other fighters turn and fire at the Hulk coming around the first one, their rounds forcing it back in rank. The fiery-haired woman continues to bark out directions, her friends quickly following up with bursts of lead. Over the course of several more minutes, quite a few sprints back to gain more room to fire, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Amii, Caryn, Salem, and Tawny have forced their attackers down. The blood of five Neo-Hulks rest before the trio, but Amii ignores it, staring down at a glistening object several feet in front of her.

"Amii?" Tawny follows her gaze, two pairs of eyes resting on a smoking 40mm grenade casing.

"Dad?"

11

_I'm here darlin'…_Dusty watches his daughter follow the trail of shells away from his current position.

The trail is more than just a mimic of his path while attacking the monsters, but also a guiding path to their next goal, the Genesis Building. There they shall find all their answers and hopefully complete their goal, their mission… His mission… All the years that he has been fighting, all the friends Dusty has lost…

"No, I'm not that Dusty… I'm just a clone.. A fake. Something that must die for HCF and Umbrella to truly be finished."

Dusty drops down from the tree and slings the empty M79 over his shoulder, hell-bent on helping his daughter escape this mess.

11

"Are you sure it might be him Amii?" Aya's voice is not nearly as frantic as Amii expected it to be.

Tawny shakes his head as Aya's voice fills his com-piece, "I'm positive of it mom, it was too perfect, too well executed, and no one can use my M79 cause I tore the sight off a while back. You have to be good to score direct hits with that weapon."

"Amii… Listen… I know you love your father, but he's dead… I buried his body over 20 years ago… Without a head…"

"No mom it was him! I heard his voice! I remember the sound of it from the movies of Sean growing up!" tears sting Amii's eyes at how blunt her mom was about Dusty's death.

"'Mii… Um… 'Mii…." Salem's voice is shaky as she tugs on the sleeve of their leader's shirt.

"What Salem?"

"That doesn't look friendly…. At all…"

11

"RUN!"

"Oh my god how could they design a monster like this!?"

"SHOOT THE FUCKING THING!"

And finally, static. The com piece cuts out as Aya stares at her computer in horror, her body not moving, so scared for her daughter's life that the woman doesn't even realize the return of her best friend. Trudie doesn't say anything, just holds the bag in her hand as Aya bursts into tears and grips the keyboard tightly.

"What happened?" the blonde's voice is soft, almost silent.

Aya clears her throat and says, "Umbrella is still working on Fusion… They've…. Perfected it."

The bag is dropped to the floor, allowing its contents to spill out, "What do you mean?"

Aya spins around at the clattering noises as Trudie scrambles to pick up the disks and flash drives, "I guess that would be the data from your friend? 'Salsa's' TDNA schematic?"

Trudie nods and slides a disk into the CD drive attached to their TV. Numbers, designs, and pictures flash across the screen as the blonde surfs through the massive amount of data on the Moomba Project. Aya returns to her computer and tries her best to regain communication with her daughter, but to no avail, as the line spews nothing but static.

"They're fine, Aya, your daughter is protecting them."

"But," Aya's frown deepens as she attempts a reroute into the communications network they're on, "who will protect my daughter?"

11

"God damn it they just won't stop!" Caryn unloads her magnum into the face of the Hulk Creature gaining ground on them.

Tawny and Salem work on clipping the ankles of the monster as Amii continues trying to break into the main complex, but the door just won't give way. A deep roar followed by a thud signals the end of another monster, but as usual, it's replaced by another one within seconds. The door beeps angrily at the redhead, so she just up and fires a round into the lock, the door flying open effortlessly.

"In! NOW!" Amii turns and tosses her three friends inside, then dives in herself, the door slamming shut just as she passes underneath.

Tawny stands up and rolls his shoulder, "Thanks Amii…"

"Yeah," Salem joins Tawny and Amii as they stand around Caryn, who has a big smile on her face, "lucky you opened the door at the last second."

"That's the thing…" the redhead stares at Carmack with a confused look on her face, "What I did didn't open the door… Someone else did it for me."

"That…. That was AWESOME! Did you see how much muscle and flesh these rounds tore off those things!?"

11

Dusty sighs in relief as he finally manages to hack into the control mainframe for this Test Sector of the base. His daughter and her friends are safe from those Creatures, so now it's his turn to take them out. The Clone flips off the top of the building and slams feet-first into the lead Hulk Creature. Blood fills the air as Dusty climbs out of the shattered body, his eyes already locked on his next target. A fist slams into the mutant before he can react, which is a first for the clone, but that's stopped as he grabs the fist by the thumb and pinky, then rips them off with a loud growl. The Hulk Creature roars in pain, then stands up straight, its hands clenching and unclenching in an unknown rhythm.

"What in the name of he…." Dusty can't finish that phrase as he is sent into the air as the ground explodes from some force emanating from the group of Fusion-Monsters.

_Apparently they can manipulate the stored kinetic energy in their muscles to form an explosion with the same intensity as a bomb…Good to know for the future I guess…_the soldier slams into a tree, his arm snapping as it's caught between some branches.

The pain is irrelevant as Dusty hangs from the tree by his broken arm. Already the bones are beginning to heal as the clone proceeds to snap twigs and branches from around his arm. With a light scream and a quick flex, the branches snap and the male is flipping down to safety, landing on the dirt with a soft, inaudible thud. A quick check of his person for misplaced body parts, a weapon, and his ID card. All are in place, even the body parts.

"Ok, here we go… Um… GRF, Genome Research Facility is next…"

"Good! Saves me the trouble!" a form drops from the treetops and pins Dusty to the tree.

"Another fucking clone? Really? Wasn't two enough already?" the brunette hero slams both elbows into the face of his cloned-attacker.

11

_He's faster than I expected… Might need to rethink this._

One needed to see how advanced the conscience made Four, apparently the rogue is stronger now, has a free standing will to live that pushes the virus faster, stronger. This is a bad sign; Four must be taken out, now. No more games, One will finish this now. The force of the elbows is nothing, no pain, no stun, just a useless waste of energy. The attacker retaliates by driving one knee into Four's side, then the other knee, forcing the mutant clone further into the tree. It cracks under the force of the blows as One head butts Four, both men falling through the tree and slamming into the dirt. Punches are traded back and forth, each fighter just as strong as the other, but one of them has a bigger advantage.

"You can't kill me One."

One just growls and retorts with a fist rocketing down into Four's mouth, teeth and blood flying into the night sky, "Why not!?"

"Several reasons… If you can refrain from pounding my face into self-healing hamburger, I'd tell ya…"

Both men stand up and dust themselves off, "Okay, talk."

11

Dusty spits into the dirt and wipes the blood from his lips as the teeth re-grow instantly, "One, you can't kill me because I am an anomaly, you want to know what made me different. What made me turn against Umbrella…."

One nods, cracking his knuckles, "Next reason."

Dusty smiles, just as he predicted, One is trying to hide his emotions, he's gaining a personality too, "You need me to solve a problem you have."

"Ok, this is getting boring."

"Last reason. I have a SOUL! I have the will to live, that far outweighs the training, the immunity to pain, the self-healing abilities granted by the viral injections. I am now a human-fucking-being! I have the conscience to be a better soldier than you, One. Believe me."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" One apparently has had enough, and he charges right into Dusty's stomach, knocking the two of them back several meters.

The ensuing fight isn't the first time these two have fought, but it is the first time the two clones have fought… Oh the power of Fusion… Reliving lives, one day at a time.

11

Millington sighs and slides the empty glass across the table, another set of painkillers down. He isn't sure why, but that last injection of Methanine for his bruised hip has affected his mental processes. Apparently one of the clones has laced his latest dose with something… Some kind of psycho-hallucinogen…. They're trying to take him out… But no one will get the last laugh on Augustine Millington.. No one, especially not some damn genetic freaks… He stands up, having a hard time keeping balance from the splitting migraine coursing through his body.

"Damn those clones," Methanine is the newest painkiller Umbrella created from Fusion.

Methanine, at its base is designed to support Umbrella's undying need for money, it supports addiction… Not addiction to the drug, but its ability to alleviate the pain. No matter the severity of the pain this drug can reverse the damage done, but only for a short time. That's the kicker, and Augustine is kicking himself for making that happen. This drug is created from Fusion, and just like the creations born from it, in order to work, the source of pain needs a consistent dose of Fusion. The virus does its job for a few hours, and then dies. This side-effect is kicking Millington's ass so to speak.

"Urgh.." the room spins around the scientist as he places both hands on the wall for support.

He manages to hold back the urge to vomit, buying himself some time to work back toward the Methanine Lab for another refill of the prescription. Thankfully the clones have followed their hidden program and left this part of the Static Heaven Facility alone. Speaking of that, the Genesis Clones have several hidden programs inside their DNA and cybernetic enhancements…

"A… Aha… Here we are…." the door to the Methanine Lab is slid open, greeting Millington with its flashing lights and cold air.

Several automated machines work tirelessly to create an almost endless supply of the drug, the vials all have a distinct purple glow to them, flaunting the Fusion resting inside. Sadly, Millington hasn't found a way to turn Methanine from a liquid painkiller into a pill. Even Gel-Caps, no matter how well-tested the method is, can't hold the virus… It eats through everything. Augustine was working on creating a remedy to this issue when the orders from higher up came down to activate Genesis.

"Oh, Genesis, the blight of my existence…." the doctor swipes a bottle of methanine from the assembly line and drinks it hastily, "and also the blessing of my career….."

**A/N: Yes, Wesker is alive… My stories do follow an alternate timeline.**

**END**


	10. A Farewell to Science

Evanescence: No More Dreams: A Final Farewell to Science

"So…. What are we looking at?"

Amii blinks several times, her jaw hanging down in disbelief at the machinery at work, "I… I think this is where they manufacture those Hulk-monsters…."

True, the machines work quickly to inject the subjects with the H-strain of Fusion, the straps doing more than they should to hold them down as the mutations start. What was once a room occupied by at least seven human beings is now home to three Hulk-Creatures and four humans. Tawny shifts uneasily as Amii drops down and opens her bag, pulling out several 40mm grenades.

"Amii?" Salem starts to back up from something, "Amii… You might want to move…"

The leader shakes her head and keeps working, taping the grenades together and placing the mega-grenade on the chest of the struggling Hulk, "Okay, back out…"

The group slowly makes their way out into the hallway as Amii raises her M93R, the sight rested on the package she created. The Hulk roars and tries to stand up, but the woman squeezes the trigger and the entire room erupts into a ball of fire and intense heat. When the smoke clears, there is nothing left inside but molten metal and smoking corpses. Amii grimaces and steps in, wanting to check her work, hoping that this room was the only one capable of creating those beasts. Tawny coughs and swats the black smoke from his face and surveys the destruction.

"Holy shit…." Caryn picks herself up from the floor and blinks to clear the debris from her eyes, "Amii, was that necessary?"

"Oh, so much…" the smile on the redhead's face never fades as she stares at the charred lab, nothing inside remaining in any discernible form.

Tawny walks up next to his girl and checks his machine gun, "Um… We might need to leave."

Everyone turns to face Salem, who is pulling Caryn out the door, her eyes wide and mouth quivering. Amii attempts to say something, but she is promptly pushed against the wall, a Hulk-Creature slowly rising from the debris. Smoke billows around its flexing muscles as it growls deeply. Its hand keeps the redhead pinned to the wall, while the other swipes Tawny across the room. Caryn unloads more rounds from her hand-cannon, but they do absolutely nothing but piss the monster off more.

Amii cries out in pain, her thoughts running to her dad, "Help me dad!"

"Get off her!" something flies through the redhead's field of vision and then the pressure is gone.

The damage is done, several fractured ribs, bruised spine, several strained muscles, the pain promptly sending the woman into unconsciousness, _Thank you, whoever you are…_

11

_Amii is sitting in a hospital room, a woman screaming in front of her. Several doctors are perched around her, one resting under the blanket covering the woman's legs. Apparently this woman is giving birth, but something appears to be wrong. Several orders are rushed out, but finally the baby is born without any serious harm done._

_"Is it..?" the voice is so familiar to Amii._

_"Mom?"_

_Sure enough, Amii is at her own birth, her mother now receiving the small bundle from the doctors. Despite several attempts to make the child cry, no sound ever leaves the baby. Amii chuckles, as this is the first sign of the strong woman she is today. Aya smiles, strokes the child's face, and then says something._

_"What, Miss Stracener?"_

_"Amii. Dusty wanted to name her Amii."_

_"Pardon?"_

_"Amii…"_

_"Amii?"_

"HEY AMII!"

Her green eyes flutter open and spot Tawny's mohawk smiling down at her. She slowly sits up, stretches, and then hisses in pain at her sore chest. Caryn and Salem look on worried, as a strange man reaches in to loosen the bandages. His touch is gentle, yet worry-filled, which somehow puts the young woman at ease. He smiles and leans back, his hand draping over the M93R on his hip.

"You have…" she coughs, "a M93R?"

He nods, the smile warm and inviting, "Yup, I see you have one too, along with a M79. You have good taste, ma'am."

She smiles back and laughs lightly, "As do you, sir. May I ask who you are?"

He cringes, this won't be good, "I prefer to leave that matter for a later time. Just trust me that I am a good friend to have around with the stuff in this facility roaming around."

Tawny attempts to force the answer out of him, but Amii senses he speaks the truth, "Agreed, sir. What is your plan for this?"

He takes a step back, "Um.. Ah.. Well I thought this little outfit was under your command?"

"Well, I am a little worse for wear right now.. And I don't know why, but you feel so familiar and I trust you… It's odd."

"Amii…." Salem cautions her friend.

"I know," she slowly stands up, using the stranger for support, "but this is no time for loyalty arguments.. We need someone with the knowledge… And that Umbrella badge on his arm tells me all I want to know at this point."

The man chuckles and steps back, holding his arms out, "Yes, well this badge is a little tough to explain… I uh… I don't remember anything up until about seven hours ago…"

As interesting as this story is, Amii groans and passes out again, the pain coming back to pay her a visit.

11

"Millington, stop where you are!" the voice of One fills the hallway.

The older man sighs and turns around, "Yes, One. What can I do for yo-"

One charges at his leader and punches him in the gut, shattering the ribcage and rupturing several organs as he screams, "How could you give Four a soul!? How!?"

Blood fills the air as Augustine stumbles back, gasping for air and holding his chest. One stomps closer and clenches his fists, his mind filled with a rage never before seen in the history of Umbrella. He kicks the man back down to the ground, then straddles his broken chest. A sick smile crosses the clone's face as he proceeds to pound his fists into the scientist's face. Blood covers the clone as the sound of fist on flesh gives way to sound of crunching bone and shattering concrete and tile. Laughter fills the hall as One falls onto his back, almost bathing in the puddle of blood around him. The laughter grabs his attention and he quickly sits up. The clone gets a shiver up his spine as he realizes the laughter is none other than his own.

"I'm.. Getting a… Soul?" One stares down at his blood-stained hands and proceeds to laugh again.

11

The ceiling shakes and blood trickles down from the cracks as Dusty watches his daughter as she tosses in her sleep. The pain in her face left a while back, replaced with a sense of wonderment and curiousness. A drop of blood falls onto her face, resting on her cheek.

He reaches in to swipe it away, but the guy, Tawny, slaps it away and cleans it himself, "No. She might trust you, but I don't."

Dusty sighs and leans back in the chair, "Fine. Make sure she is awake in twenty minutes. Longer than that and she risks injury."

The two women and Tawny are stunned as he stands up and walks out the room. Tawny just makes things uncomfortable for the father, but Dusty knows the kid means well. With that aside, he drops into soldier-mode, his eyes scanning everything, hand perched on the gun, his mind analyzing everything. His goal is upstairs; the cracks in the ceiling could've only been done by one thing, a clone. And with the blood… Dusty already knows which one too.

"Come on out One… I know you're here…" the soldier slowly creeps through the stairwell door, gun poised for head shots.

An arm comes flying down to break the arm or disarm him, but Dusty is a little too quick for that. As One's arm slams into the tile, Dusty drops a foot on it, then spins around to kick his opponent back. The Genesis leader flips mid-air and lands softly on the crushed tile, a knee planting in the remains of some unknown individual.

"Now, what did he do to deserve that?" Dusty stands up, his knuckles cracking in anticipation.

"If only you knew…."

"If I knew, I wouldn't ask," the reply is curt and in the usual sarcastic tone One has come to despise.

"Well, he created the Genesis Program. Us. And thanks to what I did to him.. I gained something tonight…"

"Do tell my friend," Dusty charges and throws a fist at his counterpart.

One catches the attack and pulls Dusty into his face, "A soul," then head-butts him back.

"That, uh," the brunette picks himself up and snorts blood onto the floor to clear his nose, "is a really useful piece of you to have… Now what has your soul made you today?"

"A… Sadist it seems… I enjoyed every scream he made, every crunch of bone… I thoroughly enjoyed ending his life… I almost didn't want it to end."

"Sick… And pathetic… That's not a soul, that is a magnification of what you already are…"

"Here is where I correct you finally, I enjoy it so much.. I don't want to die… I want to live so I can keep hurting people. I will let nothing stand in my way…. Not you, not Fission…. Nothing…"

Something slides toward One's feet, a small grenade, "You need to find some ONE to live for asshole!"

Heat and light fill the hallway as the grenade explodes. Dusty dives into a nearby room and prays he managed to at least damage his opponent. Something is wrong, he doesn't nearly have the stamina to hold off One's attacks.. Everything actually hurts now. Each hit takes something away from him, strength, stamina, life?

"Try again Dusty!" One's voice is distant, urging the clone to chase after.

Dusty takes the bait and runs down the hallway, landing in a large, white room, "What trick is this One!?"

A dark chuckle fills the room, speakers, "This is the Memory Chamber… Its purpose is to feed data into the sleeping minds of the Genesis Clones, but it also works well as a form of psychological torture. I'm sure I can find something in this file to set you off…"

Before he can retort or react, the walls shift and darken, taking on the events lodged well into the forefront of Dusty's mind: Six months after the events in Neo Raccoon.

Dusty finds himself standing before the door to his house, the one he shares with Aya and Trudie. He knows it is fake, but just the thought of seeing her face one more time forces him to step up and try his key in the lock. No dice, as the lock remains unturned. He knocks several times, Trudie greeting him with a shocked expression.

"Dusty!?"

"Hiya Trudie… How is she?"

"Um… I.. I'm sorry Dusty…"

That voice, "Who is it Trudie?"

The door is pushed open wider and there she stands, the redhead he so fondly remembers, standing before him with the stunned expression, "D… Dusty?"

He attempts to say something to her, but a fist is driven into his jaw, snapping both jawbones in one powerful strike, "Caught you off-guard!"

The scene distorts and changes, a beautiful wedding inside a huge church, Dusty still off-balance from the blow. The man falls into a table of drinks and glasses, causing everyone to spin around and stare at him.

"Dusty!? You came!" Aya runs up to him, her dress fitting her perfectly.

She helps him up as he shakes his jaw, resetting the bones, "Watch what you say about me, jerk-off."

The brunette glares at the black-haired individual who struck him, "You ever treat Aya worse than she deserves, and I'll do worse than call you a limp-dick adopted bastard."

Aya's eyes shimmer with tears as she fights with the words she doesn't want to say, "Dusty.. Please… Please leave…"

"But…" another fist strikes him, One capitalizing once again on the emotional blows.

The scene phases out again, this time returning to the white walls as One pounces the wounded clone and drops fist after fist into Dusty's face. The sadist stops as tears roll down the others face, the man crying at the devastating blows he just received. For a split second One actually feels remorse, but his mind calculates a solution just as fast as the remorse appears.

"I have someone who wants to see you again," One walks away as the room shifts again.

Dusty opens his eyes and swipes the tears away, finding himself back in his mom's house in Montana, "Dusty! Someone's here to see you!"

He doesn't remember this memory, so he treats it as another trick to shift the balance of the fight. Dusty slowly creeps toward small cabin as birds chirp overhead. The sounds die down though as none other than Aya appears at the door. Her smile is so warm, soft… Her eyes glowing as they always do…

"Aya…." he smiles and reaches out to her.

She holds her arms open and wraps them around him as he falls into them, "There there…"

Tears stroll down his face as he lets it go, lets go of his emotions, but that comes to an abrupt end as his shoulders erupt in pain. Aya's arms have turned into tentacles and are forced into Dusty's body.

"Wh… Why?" blood trickles from his lips as he clenches his love's shoulders.

"Because you are a wrench in our plans," her voice changes into that of another clone.

"Nine!" Dusty pushes away, taking the tentacles with him as he plants both feet into Nine's face.

Bones snap and muscle tears as the two fight, Dusty to get away, and Nine to keep them closer. One of them finally gives, the tentacles tearing away as Dusty slams his left foot into his opponent's head again. Now that Dusty is finally free, he pulls the tentacles out and tosses them aside.

"If this is a true remake of my mom's property.. You have no chance of beating me…"

"Is that so?" One's voice fills the forest as the scene slowly fades, "We can fix that."

_Just what I wanted._

"Dad!" a rocket launcher is tossed at his feet, Amii holding her side from the doorway.

Nine tilts his head and flings an arc of electricity at the four. They duck back and Dusty grabs the weapon. The sight is fixated on the control room of the Memory Chamber, the trigger squeezed. A flash of light covers the soldier as the explosive sets off on its path of destruction. As the rocket nears its intended target, a body jumps up to meet it. In a final show of loyalty, Nine sacrifices himself to keep One alive. The heat is intense as the clone's blood ignites from the heavy concentration of Fusion. The walls spark with electricity as the explosion sets something off inside the Memory Chamber. Dusty spins around and heads for the exit, where his daughter greets him.

"What, no clever one-liner?" Amii leans against her father as he sighs in relief.

"No point when no one is able to hear it. By the way.. How long have you known?"

11

_Here we go…_ her sigh is heavy in the air as they slowly move into another section of the main facility.

Their steps are loud in the silent hallway, all of the doors closed and locked, but that doesn't really stop them on their path. Amii rubs her arms and looks around cautiously, still feeling safe and secure with her father nearby. Tawny points his weapon down the next hallway, but is taken straight by Dusty.

"Just a feeling deep in my heart… You are everything I've imagined, you know? You can handle anything thrown at you… You're so damn strong, physically and mentally."

"I have a confession to make, Amii," Dusty kicks open a door and leads the group inside.

The room is small, but covered in crushed glass and an unknown liquid. Several circular platforms line the wall to their left, pieces of glass stuck into the bases, signaling the glass came from these machines. Several EKG machines pulsate with a flat line alarm, but they are quickly unplugged.

The brunette mutant takes a seat in the fourth chamber and looks at the group before him, "I am not your real father; I am a clone, one of nine to be exact. We are part of a program called the Genesis Nine. Designed to be the next step in Super-Soldier warfare, they created nine soldiers who think, act, and behave the exact same way. We all know the same things, have the same training."

"So, do they know about my connection to the… The base subject?" Amii is unsure of the correct wordage to use here.

He shakes his head, "I don't think so. They chose nine of us, each with a unique personality quirk that matched one found in your father and his split personality. That balanced us all and made us all exactly the same.. If I had to guess, I got his sense of justice and pride… His strongest trait… I think it overcame the programming and created me, a true clone of your father. Now, I believe you are my daughter, and have this insane want to get you the hell away from here, but I don't think I can take down the other clones without some help."

Tawny looks confused, but keeps his mouth shut to give Amii the peace she needs, "Come on you two, we'll guard the door…"

Salem nods, but Caryn stays put, "I am SO lost here…"

Dusty sighs, but Tawny drags her outside, "Let's go find you something to shoot."

When the door finally closes, Amii takes a seat in her father's lap, wraps her arms around his neck, and hugs him, "Regardless of how you came to be, you are my father, and mom will be so happy to have you in her li-"

Dusty growls and clenches his fists, alerting the woman to an incorrect assumption, "You know the last real memory I have of your mother?"

Amii shakes her head, the amber locks stuck to the sides of her face from sweat and blood, "The last thing I remember her saying is 'Leave… Please leave…' No, I don't think she wants to see me… I know she's happy with the guy she married…"

"Where in the hell do you get your information?" Amii actually has real anger in her voice as she slaps him. "Mom NEVER remarried! She waited for you, waited… Waited until the pain became too much to bear.. It took Trudie getting married for her to finally move on and accept you were dead! That wasn't mom's wedding you got into a fight at, it was Aunt Trudie's!"

"What…?" his brown eyes darken, the events in the memory chamber were fake… _All of them?_ "You mean….?"

"Yes, Trudie got married, and he ended up leaving her cause of how mom acted… Both of them LOVED you. Trudie chose mom over her husband and son… Both of them, to this day, do nothing but continue to write this," a black book is pressed into Dusty's chest, "your story. Every moment of it, every detail, every drop of blood, every tear shed. This book, to me, is you, dad…"

Dusty feels tears roll down his cheeks as his hands fidget with each other, "I… I'm sorry, I was led astray by the events in the Memory Chamber…"

Amii drops the book in her hand and drops down, her arms wrapping around her father's neck, "I'm sorry dad…"

**END**


	11. The Rebirth of an Enemy

Evanescence: No More Dreams: A Final Farewell to Science

"So…. What are we looking at?"

Amii blinks several times, her jaw hanging down in disbelief at the machinery at work, "I… I think this is where they manufacture those Hulk-monsters…."

True, the machines work quickly to inject the subjects with the H-strain of Fusion, the straps doing more than they should to hold them down as the mutations start. What was once a room occupied by at least seven human beings is now home to three Hulk-Creatures and four humans. Tawny shifts uneasily as Amii drops down and opens her bag, pulling out several 40mm grenades.

"Amii?" Salem starts to back up from something, "Amii… You might want to move…"

The leader shakes her head and keeps working, taping the grenades together and placing the mega-grenade on the chest of the struggling Hulk, "Okay, back out…"

The group slowly makes their way out into the hallway as Amii raises her M93R, the sight rested on the package she created. The Hulk roars and tries to stand up, but the woman squeezes the trigger and the entire room erupts into a ball of fire and intense heat. When the smoke clears, there is nothing left inside but molten metal and smoking corpses. Amii grimaces and steps in, wanting to check her work, hoping that this room was the only one capable of creating those beasts. Tawny coughs and swats the black smoke from his face and surveys the destruction.

"Holy shit…." Caryn picks herself up from the floor and blinks to clear the debris from her eyes, "Amii, was that necessary?"

"Oh, so much…" the smile on the redhead's face never fades as she stares at the charred lab, nothing inside remaining in any discernible form.

Tawny walks up next to his girl and checks his machine gun, "Um… We might need to leave."

Everyone turns to face Salem, who is pulling Caryn out the door, her eyes wide and mouth quivering. Amii attempts to say something, but she is promptly pushed against the wall, a Hulk-Creature slowly rising from the debris. Smoke billows around its flexing muscles as it growls deeply. Its hand keeps the redhead pinned to the wall, while the other swipes Tawny across the room. Caryn unloads more rounds from her hand-cannon, but they do absolutely nothing but piss the monster off more.

Amii cries out in pain, her thoughts running to her dad, "Help me dad!"

"Get off her!" something flies through the redhead's field of vision and then the pressure is gone.

The damage is done, several fractured ribs, bruised spine, several strained muscles, the pain promptly sending the woman into unconsciousness, _Thank you, whoever you are…_

11

_Amii is sitting in a hospital room, a woman screaming in front of her. Several doctors are perched around her, one resting under the blanket covering the woman's legs. Apparently this woman is giving birth, but something appears to be wrong. Several orders are rushed out, but finally the baby is born without any serious harm done._

_"Is it..?" the voice is so familiar to Amii._

_"Mom?"_

_Sure enough, Amii is at her own birth, her mother now receiving the small bundle from the doctors. Despite several attempts to make the child cry, no sound ever leaves the baby. Amii chuckles, as this is the first sign of the strong woman she is today. Aya smiles, strokes the child's face, and then says something._

_"What, Miss Stracener?"_

_"Amii. Dusty wanted to name her Amii."_

_"Pardon?"_

_"Amii…"_

_"Amii?"_

"HEY AMII!"

Her green eyes flutter open and spot Tawny's mohawk smiling down at her. She slowly sits up, stretches, and then hisses in pain at her sore chest. Caryn and Salem look on worried, as a strange man reaches in to loosen the bandages. His touch is gentle, yet worry-filled, which somehow puts the young woman at ease. He smiles and leans back, his hand draping over the M93R on his hip.

"You have…" she coughs, "a M93R?"

He nods, the smile warm and inviting, "Yup, I see you have one too, along with a M79. You have good taste, ma'am."

She smiles back and laughs lightly, "As do you, sir. May I ask who you are?"

He cringes, this won't be good, "I prefer to leave that matter for a later time. Just trust me that I am a good friend to have around with the stuff in this facility roaming around."

Tawny attempts to force the answer out of him, but Amii senses he speaks the truth, "Agreed, sir. What is your plan for this?"

He takes a step back, "Um.. Ah.. Well I thought this little outfit was under your command?"

"Well, I am a little worse for wear right now.. And I don't know why, but you feel so familiar and I trust you… It's odd."

"Amii…." Salem cautions her friend.

"I know," she slowly stands up, using the stranger for support, "but this is no time for loyalty arguments.. We need someone with the knowledge… And that Umbrella badge on his arm tells me all I want to know at this point."

The man chuckles and steps back, holding his arms out, "Yes, well this badge is a little tough to explain… I uh… I don't remember anything up until about seven hours ago…"

As interesting as this story is, Amii groans and passes out again, the pain coming back to pay her a visit.

11

"Millington, stop where you are!" the voice of One fills the hallway.

The older man sighs and turns around, "Yes, One. What can I do for yo-"

One charges at his leader and punches him in the gut, shattering the ribcage and rupturing several organs as he screams, "How could you give Four a soul!? How!?"

Blood fills the air as Augustine stumbles back, gasping for air and holding his chest. One stomps closer and clenches his fists, his mind filled with a rage never before seen in the history of Umbrella. He kicks the man back down to the ground, then straddles his broken chest. A sick smile crosses the clone's face as he proceeds to pound his fists into the scientist's face. Blood covers the clone as the sound of fist on flesh gives way to sound of crunching bone and shattering concrete and tile. Laughter fills the hall as One falls onto his back, almost bathing in the puddle of blood around him. The laughter grabs his attention and he quickly sits up. The clone gets a shiver up his spine as he realizes the laughter is none other than his own.

"I'm.. Getting a… Soul?" One stares down at his blood-stained hands and proceeds to laugh again.

11

The ceiling shakes and blood trickles down from the cracks as Dusty watches his daughter as she tosses in her sleep. The pain in her face left a while back, replaced with a sense of wonderment and curiousness. A drop of blood falls onto her face, resting on her cheek.

He reaches in to swipe it away, but the guy, Tawny, slaps it away and cleans it himself, "No. She might trust you, but I don't."

Dusty sighs and leans back in the chair, "Fine. Make sure she is awake in twenty minutes. Longer than that and she risks injury."

The two women and Tawny are stunned as he stands up and walks out the room. Tawny just makes things uncomfortable for the father, but Dusty knows the kid means well. With that aside, he drops into soldier-mode, his eyes scanning everything, hand perched on the gun, his mind analyzing everything. His goal is upstairs; the cracks in the ceiling could've only been done by one thing, a clone. And with the blood… Dusty already knows which one too.

"Come on out One… I know you're here…" the soldier slowly creeps through the stairwell door, gun poised for head shots.

An arm comes flying down to break the arm or disarm him, but Dusty is a little too quick for that. As One's arm slams into the tile, Dusty drops a foot on it, then spins around to kick his opponent back. The Genesis leader flips mid-air and lands softly on the crushed tile, a knee planting in the remains of some unknown individual.

"Now, what did he do to deserve that?" Dusty stands up, his knuckles cracking in anticipation.

"If only you knew…."

"If I knew, I wouldn't ask," the reply is curt and in the usual sarcastic tone One has come to despise.

"Well, he created the Genesis Program. Us. And thanks to what I did to him.. I gained something tonight…"

"Do tell my friend," Dusty charges and throws a fist at his counterpart.

One catches the attack and pulls Dusty into his face, "A soul," then head-butts him back.

"That, uh," the brunette picks himself up and snorts blood onto the floor to clear his nose, "is a really useful piece of you to have… Now what has your soul made you today?"

"A… Sadist it seems… I enjoyed every scream he made, every crunch of bone… I thoroughly enjoyed ending his life… I almost didn't want it to end."

"Sick… And pathetic… That's not a soul, that is a magnification of what you already are…"

"Here is where I correct you finally, I enjoy it so much.. I don't want to die… I want to live so I can keep hurting people. I will let nothing stand in my way…. Not you, not Fission…. Nothing…"

Something slides toward One's feet, a small grenade, "You need to find some ONE to live for asshole!"

Heat and light fill the hallway as the grenade explodes. Dusty dives into a nearby room and prays he managed to at least damage his opponent. Something is wrong, he doesn't nearly have the stamina to hold off One's attacks.. Everything actually hurts now. Each hit takes something away from him, strength, stamina, life?

"Try again Dusty!" One's voice is distant, urging the clone to chase after.

Dusty takes the bait and runs down the hallway, landing in a large, white room, "What trick is this One!?"

A dark chuckle fills the room, speakers, "This is the Memory Chamber… Its purpose is to feed data into the sleeping minds of the Genesis Clones, but it also works well as a form of psychological torture. I'm sure I can find something in this file to set you off…"

Before he can retort or react, the walls shift and darken, taking on the events lodged well into the forefront of Dusty's mind: Six months after the events in Neo Raccoon.

Dusty finds himself standing before the door to his house, the one he shares with Aya and Trudie. He knows it is fake, but just the thought of seeing her face one more time forces him to step up and try his key in the lock. No dice, as the lock remains unturned. He knocks several times, Trudie greeting him with a shocked expression.

"Dusty!?"

"Hiya Trudie… How is she?"

"Um… I.. I'm sorry Dusty…"

That voice, "Who is it Trudie?"

The door is pushed open wider and there she stands, the redhead he so fondly remembers, standing before him with the stunned expression, "D… Dusty?"

He attempts to say something to her, but a fist is driven into his jaw, snapping both jawbones in one powerful strike, "Caught you off-guard!"

The scene distorts and changes, a beautiful wedding inside a huge church, Dusty still off-balance from the blow. The man falls into a table of drinks and glasses, causing everyone to spin around and stare at him.

"Dusty!? You came!" Aya runs up to him, her dress fitting her perfectly.

She helps him up as he shakes his jaw, resetting the bones, "Watch what you say about me, jerk-off."

The brunette glares at the black-haired individual who struck him, "You ever treat Aya worse than she deserves, and I'll do worse than call you a limp-dick adopted bastard."

Aya's eyes shimmer with tears as she fights with the words she doesn't want to say, "Dusty.. Please… Please leave…"

"But…" another fist strikes him, One capitalizing once again on the emotional blows.

The scene phases out again, this time returning to the white walls as One pounces the wounded clone and drops fist after fist into Dusty's face. The sadist stops as tears roll down the others face, the man crying at the devastating blows he just received. For a split second One actually feels remorse, but his mind calculates a solution just as fast as the remorse appears.

"I have someone who wants to see you again," One walks away as the room shifts again.

Dusty opens his eyes and swipes the tears away, finding himself back in his mom's house in Montana, "Dusty! Someone's here to see you!"

He doesn't remember this memory, so he treats it as another trick to shift the balance of the fight. Dusty slowly creeps toward small cabin as birds chirp overhead. The sounds die down though as none other than Aya appears at the door. Her smile is so warm, soft… Her eyes glowing as they always do…

"Aya…." he smiles and reaches out to her.

She holds her arms open and wraps them around him as he falls into them, "There there…"

Tears stroll down his face as he lets it go, lets go of his emotions, but that comes to an abrupt end as his shoulders erupt in pain. Aya's arms have turned into tentacles and are forced into Dusty's body.

"Wh… Why?" blood trickles from his lips as he clenches his love's shoulders.

"Because you are a wrench in our plans," her voice changes into that of another clone.

"Nine!" Dusty pushes away, taking the tentacles with him as he plants both feet into Nine's face.

Bones snap and muscle tears as the two fight, Dusty to get away, and Nine to keep them closer. One of them finally gives, the tentacles tearing away as Dusty slams his left foot into his opponent's head again. Now that Dusty is finally free, he pulls the tentacles out and tosses them aside.

"If this is a true remake of my mom's property.. You have no chance of beating me…"

"Is that so?" One's voice fills the forest as the scene slowly fades, "We can fix that."

_Just what I wanted._

"Dad!" a rocket launcher is tossed at his feet, Amii holding her side from the doorway.

Nine tilts his head and flings an arc of electricity at the four. They duck back and Dusty grabs the weapon. The sight is fixated on the control room of the Memory Chamber, the trigger squeezed. A flash of light covers the soldier as the explosive sets off on its path of destruction. As the rocket nears its intended target, a body jumps up to meet it. In a final show of loyalty, Nine sacrifices himself to keep One alive. The heat is intense as the clone's blood ignites from the heavy concentration of Fusion. The walls spark with electricity as the explosion sets something off inside the Memory Chamber. Dusty spins around and heads for the exit, where his daughter greets him.

"What, no clever one-liner?" Amii leans against her father as he sighs in relief.

"No point when no one is able to hear it. By the way.. How long have you known?"

11

_Here we go…_ her sigh is heavy in the air as they slowly move into another section of the main facility.

Their steps are loud in the silent hallway, all of the doors closed and locked, but that doesn't really stop them on their path. Amii rubs her arms and looks around cautiously, still feeling safe and secure with her father nearby. Tawny points his weapon down the next hallway, but is taken straight by Dusty.

"Just a feeling deep in my heart… You are everything I've imagined, you know? You can handle anything thrown at you… You're so damn strong, physically and mentally."

"I have a confession to make, Amii," Dusty kicks open a door and leads the group inside.

The room is small, but covered in crushed glass and an unknown liquid. Several circular platforms line the wall to their left, pieces of glass stuck into the bases, signaling the glass came from these machines. Several EKG machines pulsate with a flat line alarm, but they are quickly unplugged.

The brunette mutant takes a seat in the fourth chamber and looks at the group before him, "I am not your real father; I am a clone, one of nine to be exact. We are part of a program called the Genesis Nine. Designed to be the next step in Super-Soldier warfare, they created nine soldiers who think, act, and behave the exact same way. We all know the same things, have the same training."

"So, do they know about my connection to the… The base subject?" Amii is unsure of the correct wordage to use here.

He shakes his head, "I don't think so. They chose nine of us, each with a unique personality quirk that matched one found in your father and his split personality. That balanced us all and made us all exactly the same.. If I had to guess, I got his sense of justice and pride… His strongest trait… I think it overcame the programming and created me, a true clone of your father. Now, I believe you are my daughter, and have this insane want to get you the hell away from here, but I don't think I can take down the other clones without some help."

Tawny looks confused, but keeps his mouth shut to give Amii the peace she needs, "Come on you two, we'll guard the door…"

Salem nods, but Caryn stays put, "I am SO lost here…"

Dusty sighs, but Tawny drags her outside, "Let's go find you something to shoot."

When the door finally closes, Amii takes a seat in her father's lap, wraps her arms around his neck, and hugs him, "Regardless of how you came to be, you are my father, and mom will be so happy to have you in her li-"

Dusty growls and clenches his fists, alerting the woman to an incorrect assumption, "You know the last real memory I have of your mother?"

Amii shakes her head, the amber locks stuck to the sides of her face from sweat and blood, "The last thing I remember her saying is 'Leave… Please leave…' No, I don't think she wants to see me… I know she's happy with the guy she married…"

"Where in the hell do you get your information?" Amii actually has real anger in her voice as she slaps him. "Mom NEVER remarried! She waited for you, waited… Waited until the pain became too much to bear.. It took Trudie getting married for her to finally move on and accept you were dead! That wasn't mom's wedding you got into a fight at, it was Aunt Trudie's!"

"What…?" his brown eyes darken, the events in the memory chamber were fake… _All of them?_ "You mean….?"

"Yes, Trudie got married, and he ended up leaving her cause of how mom acted… Both of them LOVED you. Trudie chose mom over her husband and son… Both of them, to this day, do nothing but continue to write this," a black book is pressed into Dusty's chest, "your story. Every moment of it, every detail, every drop of blood, every tear shed. This book, to me, is you, dad…"

Dusty feels tears roll down his cheeks as his hands fidget with each other, "I… I'm sorry, I was led astray by the events in the Memory Chamber…"

Amii drops the book in her hand and drops down, her arms wrapping around her father's neck, "I'm sorry dad…"

**END**


	12. Final Farewell to Happiness

Evanescence: No More Dreams: A Final Farewell to Happiness

Amii turns in her sleep, knocked unconscious almost twenty minutes earlier by Isis, her friends and father watching on with worry plastered to their faces. No one is sure if she'll wake up any time soon, nor are they too ready to wake her. Tawny sits down right next to her, his face buried in his hands as he says a light prayer. Salem is pacing around the room, tossing a few shotgun shells between her hands as her glance turns to her best friend. Caryn is sitting in the corner of the room, Salsa sleeping soundly in her arms, the dried blood from Isis reflecting the fluorescent light overhead.

Dusty, he is another story altogether, he is still nursing the wounded shoulder, wondering more and more if it will ever heal, "Dusty?"

He turns his gaze to Salem, who is sitting down next to him, "Hmm? What can I do for you Miss Saori?"

She chuckles lightly, trying to hide the worry, but he knows better, "Well.. Are you ok?"

This is not what he expected, and is quickly taken aback by it, "Um, beg your pardon?"

"You are a clone created by Fusion right?" he nods. "That means you have the powers of the virus… Healing, speed, strength, stamina…"

Another nod from the brunette, he knows where this is going and decides to head her off, "Apparently the virus is weakening… I'm not as fast, strong, or healing as I was about an hour ago. I can't begin to explain why, I just accept it and deal with the handicap it gives," he holds up the wrapped arm to prove his point, then grimaces in pain.

Tawny finally speaks, his voice soft, "What do we do now?"

"Well," Dusty stands up, with a little help from Salem, "we were granted time for a rest by Isis, but we need to get moving."

No one wants to acknowledge it, but everyone agrees, Isis is allowing them time to rest. He's baiting them into a trap, wanting to take them down at their best. It's almost sickening how cocky Isis is, granted the fact that Isis is in many ways Dusty. The brunette male laughs to himself, he thought One was bad, but apparently Isis is going to be a whole new challenge… Dusty tests his shoulder by rolling it, nodding at the smaller amount of pain, and returning articulation. At this rate, his shoulder should be back to normal within the hour, hopefully…

Tawny stands up and turns to face the group, a steel resolve apparent on his features, "We need to get out of here. I'm calling for an abort."

A loud laugh fills the room, but not from the expected person as everyone turns to face Amii, who has suddenly awoken, "You think Umbrella is just going to let us scurry back to our cave? Lick our wounds? You have an-" a coughing fit courses through her body as she lifts herself up off the cot.

Tawny helps into a seated position and checks the bandages as she continues, "I love you and all, but damn it you are fucking naive… Even if we manage to escape from Umbrella, Isis and the other Genesis Clones won't stop until they find us and kill us all. Most likely in the most horrid ways we can imagine, if not worse…"

Dusty nods in agreement and faces the door, "We'll have to discuss this later…" his weapon is drawn and aimed at the lower half of the door, aiming to take out the ankles of whatever opens the door.

Everyone watches in confusion at the older man's actions, but they all jump as something slams into the door, a deep growl shaking the walls. A few hand signals from Tawny and the other four in the room take up armed position in a semi-circular path behind Dusty. Another excruciatingly loud thud is the precursor to the walls and door exploding, knocking everyone but the Clone to their backs.

"Heh, welcome," Dusty chuckles before dropping two rounds into the large, swollen ankle directly in front of him.

Nothing happens at first, but then the ceiling ripples like water, exploding down on them as a fist flies through the dust and debris. Another shockwave fills the room, but when the dust clears there is no blood, no dead bodies as the four younger soldiers slowly climb to their feet. Dusty is nearly pushed down to a seated position, but the grit teeth and outstretched arm are the only things keeping the fist from the Hulk-Creature from squashing them all. It is taking every ounce of quickly-fading strength to hold the fist at bay, but he can't let this monster kill his daughter. Another push from their enemy, but Dusty remains unmoved, his left arm slowly slipping from the sling, a long combat knife flashing as it flips upward and locks in-between the bones of the monster's wrist. The fist loosens its attack, allowing Dusty to push it up and in front of him, allowing it to slam into the ground harmlessly as the monster roars in anger.

"Come, quickly," he guides them all safely around the monster and down the hallway.

_Oh how quickly this day is turning into hell.. Just seven hours ago I was rifling through this base's ammunition supp- That's it!_ Dusty makes a sharp left, his eyes flashing left to right, shooting anything that comes within eyesight.

11

Aya tosses another disk into the air, nothing useful there, promptly slamming another one into the front of her computer, groaning at what will likely be another sleepless night. Though this one is brought on by work, not worry for the safety of her offspring. Trudie works furiously behind her, reading through page upon page of DNA listings.

"Can you believe the animal we sent to Caryn is made up of over seventy-five species?" Trudie places the stack beside her and picks up another notebook, groaning herself at the lack of any form of neat handwriting he used to take notations of the mutation stages.

Aya chuckles and flips the monitor toward her friend, "No, but I think you'll believe this… It's the secondary programming in Salsa's TDNA sequence."

Trudie scrambles to sit next to her best friend, her blue eyes scanning the numberless lines, finally reading the important part aloud, "…under normal circumstances the Moomba will act normally to anyone around, but when it senses danger to the person it is supposed to protect, it will adapt to protect. Activating the contagious tendencies of Fusion is not beyond the capabilities of this function. Wait, you mean to tell me it can turn the virus on and off?"

Aya nods slowly and gets up, stretching with a loud yawn before walking to the other desk, four boxes of radio parts awaiting her touch. She must get in contact with Amii at all costs; warn her of what is happening to Salsa, and how that might be of benefit to her as well.

"Before you get started, check this out.. It's an article about using Genetic-Engineering to create what is essentially a psychic communications network between soldiers…" Trudie has just struck gold.

"Alright! Is there any real data on how it works? If there is a frequency we can hack into?"

11

One slowly sinks into his chair, staring at the monitors for the Fusion Research Center, the building he now resides in. The other clones are out securing the central hub, providing a last line of defense incase Isis fails. The leader arches an eyebrow at the thought that courses through his head.

"Why do I begin to fear what Isis will do?" One finds himself slowly tapping the hilt of his knife absentmindedly as his eyes scan the monitors, looking forever to find some sign of Isis..

Four has passed by numerous monitors, but One has ignored him, his mind wanting to know what Isis is doing. The curiosity is eating at his soul with abandon, the need to keep track of the monster he set loose driving closer and closer to madness. One can sense his mind slipping from him, and it's taking all of his strength to control the loss. Was this the will of the creators of the Genesis program? He will never know, as he killed the father of his team. In hindsight, maybe killing Millington wasn't such a good idea, but he was weak, it needed to happen sooner or later.

As his eyes reach the fifth row of monitors, a loud, static-filled screech pierces his head, causing him to hunch over and hold his head, "_Dusty!? I'm looking for Dusty! If you are there please say something! It's Aya!_"

Something clicks inside One's body, a total inability to move as that name rings through his body.

_Can the rest of the clones move?_

11

Amii slowly hobbles behind the rest of the group, her ribs aching with every step, which is suddenly amplified as she bumps into what feels like a brick wall. She gasps in pain as she falls on her butt; her eyes clenched shut in pain. As she picks herself up, slowly, and with an arm wrapped around her ribcage, Amii stares at her father, who is stuck mid-stride, his eyes distant, and jaw hanging open slightly.

"Dad?" the redhead pokes the clone of her father and snaps her fingers in front of his face.

His lips waver, saying something, but they're moving so slightly it's almost impossible to read them. Those deep brown eyes flicker and shift directions, like he's trying to put together what has happened to him. Tawny, Salem, and Caryn all gather around him, their curiosity finally getting to them.

"Hey dad!" Amii screams at her father, no reaction.

But just as quickly as he stopped, Dusty is sitting down; his head shaking slowly as he looks up at his daughter, head held in his hands, "Amii, it's your mother… It's Aya…"

_What!?_ Amii drops down next to him and wraps an arm around him, "What was that dad?"

"Aya, she's," he leans back, staring at the ceiling of the hallway they are in, "found a way to hack the nano-frequency the Genesis Clones use… This is not good."

"What? Why?" Amii is completely confused. "Isn't her ability to reach you, to reach us, a good thing?"

"Look darlin'," Dusty turns to face her, but turns around and stares at the other three, "I want you three to move on, find us a secure location to shack up and continue to tend to these wounds."

"What? With the other clones after us?" Tawny is defiant, but the leader puts him in his place.

"One's main concern is Isis. He will ignore us until we either cause him grief, or Isis is dealt with."

"How do you know this?" Salem finally shows some doubt, but she too, is set in her spot.

"Heh," Dusty slowly faces the door to his left, "it's what I would do. Get rid of the unpredictable.. The predictable, that's us, will come to him in due time. Now, anyone care to venture into what 'Advanced Genome Sequencing' will have inside?"

Tawny finally takes the hint and orders Salem on the other side of the door frame as he slowly opens the door, Caryn standing at his side to help with the sweep. As the three of them disappear inside, Dusty finally is able to address his daughter's question.

"Darlin', if I can hear her… The other clones can hear her… Now, the worst thing that can happen is they trace the connection directly to her. I have worked too hard in the past to make sure she stays safe and hidden.. Now the absolute worst that can happen is they outright kill her and your aunt Trudie."

Amii interrupts him, "Well can't you tell her to not respond anymore?"

He shakes his head, much to the dismay of the fiery redhead, "Won't do any good now… Once a connection is established it can only be severed from our side. That, in the short answer, means killing the rest of the Genesis Clones… They won't willingly separate the connection because of the tactical advantages it provides. If I was leading the Genesis Clones here, I would use any advantage I can get. Especially with the fact all of them can sound exactly like me…"

Suddenly, Dusty sees the brutal truth hit his daughter like a runaway train, her face darkening as she realizes her mother has put herself in the worst possible position, "What will you do if they bring her here?"

There's no real answer to that, not one that Amii will want to hear, but it's about time she hears the complete truth, "Your mother and I made a promise to each other on our wedding night, because of what happened on that god forsaken Aunu'u Island… Thank god when Thomas took it over, he sent all the residents to other islands… But that's beside the point… The promise we made was that if we were ever captured and used against the other, we would kill that person."

Amii takes a step back, gasping at the realization, her hand grasping at the clothing right over her heart, "What? You can't be serious…."

"Look, 'Mii… We can't let personal feelings get in the way of our mission. Not anymore. I can't stress how important it is that not let anyone get a hold on your emotions.. When you lose those, it truly is over. I know, if Tawny had to choose between dying, and seeing you give up the mission you have striven so hard to accomplish, he will die," Dusty places a hand on his daughter's shoulder, trying to get the point across, while being as polite as possible.

"Um, sir, you might want to come see this…" Tawny's voice cuts through the uneasy silence.

"Right, come on Amii…" he sighs silently as his daughter applies her calm, collected expression, regardless of the pain both emotionally and physically she feels.

As they step into the Advanced Genome Sequencing Lab, the scene at the back of the room makes Amii's stomach turn over, "What in the hell?"

11

Isis stares down the hallway at the Clone blocking his path, "**One, move out of my way. I'd rather not have to kill you right now.**"

A deep chuckle, "But you do plan on killing me?"

The psychotic clone sighs and unholsters his weapon, "**It was my plan after ridding myself of the other clones, yes.**"

"Because," One reaches for his weapon, only to find himself without one, "having all of us chasing after Four is a hindrance to your plan.. It's exactly what I was planning on doing."

A round is fired down range, but One dodges it, charging at Isis before the second round even slides into the chamber. The two bodies collide, three hands wrapped around the handgun, trying to pry the weapon from the others grasp. As they slam into the tile, another round is fired, the slide of the weapon slicing into One's hands, which quickly heals. As the two finally break their grasps, One stands up, his right eye closed tightly as blood quickly trails down his face.

"Not a bad shot I must say… Being this close with our massive amount of movement," Isis smiles as he knows One hates giving compliments.

"**I try,**" Isis tosses the empty weapon down the hall, having expended the last round into One's eye, "**Shall we finish this though? I grow bored of your incessant need to stop me in my own goals.**"

"I just want you to get back to the goal at hand, killing Four."

"Four is the least of our problems now," a new voice, that of Five, joins the duo as they turn to face him.

"Report," One demands as he slowly opens his wounded eye, the orb inside black, but slowly turning white.

"Apparently Six and Seven have found the Genome Sequence Chamber… The stockpile of Fusion is down almost 30%," he snaps a salute, telling both Isis and One that he hasn't changed too much yet, though his voice has more inflection to it.

"**How many vials is that?**" Isis asks One, as One knows more about the facility than the other clones.

One quickly dispatches a mathematical formula, "Seven hundred vials. Give or take a few." he turns to Five, "Hypothesis?"

"Uncontrolled mutation, maybe even Fusion of the two personalities if the bodies dematerialize enough."

"Truce, Isis?" the clone nods, and they both take off for the AGSC.

11

"Seven? Six?" Dusty drops down in front of them, watching the clones literally begin to melt around him.

"Hah, they said you'd find us eventually…." the two clones alternate the words they say, meaning they are becoming one personality.

"What do you mean?" Dusty even picks up Seven's jaw that fell off and slides it back into place, but it just tilts, and drops back into the puddle of amino acids.

"One…. That… Find…. And… End… Lives…" since Seven can no longer talk, Six is only saying his half of the conversation.

"Well, yes, I am going to kill you… But it seems you've done the damage yourselves. God, why did you do this?"

"DAD!?" Dusty spins around, sending specks and globs of the two clones into the air as he draws his weapon.

Isis is holding Tawny and Salem in the air by their necks, while One has Amii pointing her own weapon at Caryn, "Drop the gun, we're here for them and them alone."

"Why? What use are they to you, One?" Dusty lowers the weapon, but the lighter in his left hand remains hidden.

"**What does it matter to you? You'll be dead before you get the chance to see what we do with their body…**" Isis slams Tawny and Salem's heads together, knocking them unconscious.

The two bodies are dropped, then Amii and Caryn are tossed onto the pile, "No, Caryn, don't do anything."

Dusty lowers his hand from the order he gave her, then slowly tilts to the side, allowing the two clones to pass by. Isis takes this chance to sucker-punch Dusty, the punch actually drawing blood. As retaliation, Dusty stomps in the puddle of the two other clones, then tosses the lighter at Isis, the Liquid Clone igniting instantly. As the heat grows and expands, Dusty dives out of the room, dragging the four younger members with him, the door sliding shut as an explosion rocks the facility.

"Fuckers…" Dusty swipes the blood from under his left eye, then quickly helps pick up the others.

Amii cries out in pain, blood seeping through the bandages on her side, "What was that?"

"Fusion is flammable, with the amount that they ingested; it was only a matter of time before their amino acids saturated the whole facility. When that happens, even the cherry from a cigarette can detonate the facility… One and Isis can't have that happen, so they are going to store the bodies in one of the Genesis Chambers we saw earlier," he sits Salem and Tawny against the wall, then gently slaps their cheeks to wake them up.

"We have to get out of here.. Screw the mission, dad. Let's just come back with more weapons, more soldiers…"

"And do what? No, tell me, Amii. What can we do with more soldiers and weapons that your original group of three hundred couldn't do? ONE monster took out almost your entire team. The ONLY reason you have lived as long as you have before I became involved directly, was because I was watching over you. This place is not Isle Eras, Neo Raccoon, or Tokyo.. This facility is different. It's worse, this place changes people. We either finish this Amii, or we die. There is no leaving, no coming back.. NONE OF THAT!" Dusty slams a fist into the wall, shattering the surrounding concrete and drywall.

"Don't start pinning what YOU didn't finish on ME dad." Amii has had enough.

"What?" the clone is taken aback by this sudden outburst.

The redhead woman steps up to her father and shoves him back into the wall he just damaged, "I have been living in your shadow long enough. Mom raised me to be you.. And I've had it. She's been living her own goals through me for too long. I have sacrificed too much to get here. I will not sacrifice another life, not one that I can protect… The only life here that can even be lost without any supreme consequences is YOURS!"

_That's it, darlin… Use this anger…_ Dusty grimaces at the fact he's having to toy with his daughter's emotions…

11

"Hello?" the cell phone beeps as a male voice begins to speak.

"Aya? May I speak to Trudie?" it's Brice, just the person neither of them wants to hear from.

"What, asshole?" the blonde takes the phone and screams into the transmitter.

"Trudie, calm down, I'm on my way to get Amii and bring her out. I just need some help."

The room is quiet, neither of them believing what they are hearing, "What? Where are you, Brice?"

The doorbell rings, "Come on, ladies, let's go get your daughter."

**END**


	13. All Good Things Must Continue

Evanescence: No More Dreams: All Good Things Must Continue

Dusty slowly leans his head around the dark corner; his curiosity peaked at the lack of intact lights in this half of the Genesis Building. Amii grunts lightly in pain as she stops behind him, the new bandage already soaked in blood, even after having been replaced a mere ten minutes ago. A single gunshot rings out and the older man grunts in pain before reeling back around the corner, his hands latched onto his face in pain.

"Sonuvabitch got me again…" blood drips from between his fingers as the man groans again.

"**First was just a warning! Second one has a special surprise in it!**" Isis's deep voice fills the dark meeting hall before the small squad.

Amii reaches for her father, but he shrugs her hand away, his face already healing as he slides his back down the wall to a sitting position. She stares in awe as he sifts through multiple scenarios, his eyes shifting left, right, up, down, and then back to center. A smile fills his face as he quickly snatches the small pouch from Salem's waist.

"'Ey!" he quiets her before pulling out her last block of C4.

"Just follow my lead…" his voice is calm as he pulls out a handgun clip, his fingers snapping the bullets out.

A small wire is tied around the bottom of the clip, keeping the whole magazine clear for the explosive. Once the clip is crammed to capacity, Dusty slips it into a spare handgun, and then prepares to initiate the first phase of his plan. Another gunshot rings out, this one piercing the wall and digging into the soldier's shoulder, who just grunts through the pain and raises the weapon. The man's index finger rests on the trigger and he sighs slowly before rounding the corner. He squeezes the trigger, the singular round ejecting and firing down range as he ejects the clip, the make-shift fragmentation grenade flipping through the air wildly.

"Go!" Dusty pushes Tawny and Amii across the open doorways as he pulls out his M93R, the sights already aimed at the spinning clip.

The air grows silent, time slows down as Dusty enters his trance, watching as Isis proceeds to squeeze the trigger on his rifle, right as the clip rises into his line of sight. A deep breath in, a silent prayer, then a flash in Dusty's eyes as he pulls the trigger on his own weapon. The hollow-point leaves the gun in an intense explosion, and it travels through the air on a pin-point collision course with the homemade explosion. Dusty smiles wide as Isis's expression goes from one of pure ecstasy, that of knowing he will win, to pure surprise as the C4-filled clip explodes in his face, blocking his field of view.

"Come, quickly," he grabs the hands of Caryn and Salem, his feet pushing harder into the tile than they ever have before, rocketing the trio across the open gap.

"**DUSTY!**" a smile flashes across the collective face of the five survivors at how angry their antagonist is.

Several high-powered rifle rounds shatter through the soft stucco, plaster, and sheet-rock as Dusty ushers the younger members down the hallway, his mind already working on a plan to take out Isis. But that plan is put on hold as another enemy makes his presence known.

The click of a well-worn hammer fills the hallway, a sick laugh crawling into the soldier's ear, the feeling of cold gunmetal pressing hard into his left temple, "Did you think it would be so easy? We had a plan in case you made it past Isis…."

Before Dusty can even retort, Amii, Tawny, Salem, and Caryn have pumped rounds into the clone. Blood pools onto the floor as Dusty ducks down, knocking the legs out from under his adversary, then drops an elbow through the exposed left knee, shattering it instantly. Empty magazines fall to the floor and the weapons are reloaded simultaneously, more ammunition being fired at the Genesis Clone.

"Da-!" Dusty spins around and fires a round at Isis, who has grabbed his daughter.

"**Drop your weapons or I kill the bitch…**" the wounds from the shrapnel are still healing as Dusty allows his weapon to twirl around his finger, removing his ability to fire it.

The others soon follow suit, One crawling to his feet, blood just gushing from the hamburger he calls a face. Isis backs up, beckoning One to follow as he drags Amii with him, his rifle poking deep into the bruising skin of the redhead. A deep growl fills the hallway, the sound grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. Before any of them can react, the wall explodes and a huge arm barrels into Isis and One, Dusty barely able to save his daughter from the hit before the next wall is shattered.

"Come on! Don't stop to gawk!" Tawny kicks another door open and the five disappear into the darkness.

11

"_I take another chance  
Take a shot, take a fall for you  
I need you like a heart needs a beat  
But it's nothing new  
I loved you with the fire red  
Now it's turning blue, and you said  
Sorry like the angel  
Heaven let me think was you  
But I'm afraid…_"

"It's too late! Too late to apologize!"

Aya and Brice cringe in their respective car seats as Trudie proceeds to sing, badly, her favorite song. Not only is she off key, but instead of matching the singer's original tone, she's SHRIEKING the words. If glass was able to commit suicide, there would be none left in this truck. Aya's eyes scan the horizon, her hands rubbing around each other nervously, the shotgun resting firmly in her lap as she stares into the distance. Her slender fingers trace circles on the butt of the weapon, the shotgun itself having seen years of fighting and use. Her mind wanders over everything from the weather where Dusty is at, to just how much he's changed, if at all from the last time she ever saw him. That day is still etched in her mind, Trudie's wedding… The last true time any of them ever saw the man she loved, and still loves.

As Aya starts to relive that day, something pokes her in the shoulder, the item in question being Trudie's pen, "So, Aya, what are you gonna do when you see Dusty?"

The redhead has to admit to herself, she has thought about this for a long long time, so the answer is simple, "If he's not the man I expect, and Amii is right, I'm gonna put a bullet in his brain."

"Well," the blonde slumps back into the seat of the truck, "so much for this conversation…"

11

"Did anyone happen to sneak another clip with them?"

Several negative replies cross the room, Dusty kicking a barrel in frustration, the item rocketing through the wall, but not actually making a hole to the other side. Amii hisses in pain as Tawny wraps another set of bandages around her waist, quickly discarding the bloody cloths into the open barrel. Salem and Caryn are busy exchanging bags; hoping one can find something the other didn't.

_What the hell… The armory room was supposed to be up here.. Oh hell, I'm stupid…_

"Tawny, come here for a minute," the brunette grabs another barrel, this time picking it up and slamming it into the ceiling.

"Hmm?" the younger man walks over to the mutant and suddenly gasps as the man tosses him through the newly created hole.

11

Tawny's eyes scan the surroundings of the room he was literally tossed into, "Grab anything and everything… There should be a crate of 9mm hollow-point somewhere to your left if I tossed you right."

The crate is right where he says it is, but as he reaches for it, a weapon is clicked into his neck, "Hi there…."

The blue-haired soldier slowly rises to his feet, his hands up in the air as the attacker laughs in triumph, "I caught him! I caught one of the clones!"

"Hmm?" a slender black eyebrow is arched at the peculiar statement. "You think I'm a clone?"

"Only a clone has the strength to bust through this floor! And seeing how you knew exactly where the ammunition is, you just HAVE to be a Genesis clone!" Tawny turns to face the attacker, the voice eerily calm.

"Who are you, ma'am?" the woman gasps and lowers the weapon.

"Wh… What did you just say?" her hair is matted to her face, clothes in tatters, blood covering almost every inch of available textile material. Her eyes scan around wildly, one arm draped across her stomach, holding her pants around her waist. The gun is held at an odd angle, signaling inexperience with the weapon of choice, even though her stance shows a training in the usage of firearms.

"Ma'am?" he tilts his head, perplexed by the question.

The woman's entire stance just changes instantly, a smile crossing her lips, "If you said that… Are you here to save us?"

"Save who, exactly?" Tawny releases the hand on the gun at his side. "Just who are you?"

"I don't remember my name… But there's about twenty of us… We're the surrogate mothers of the new Genesis generation… When the first set of Genesis Clones began to break down, the facility went into a dismantle phase… I was the first SM released…. I made my way here, trying to arm up and take the clones out myself…"

Tawny slowly helps the woman into a seated position, sliding an ammo crate over to her so she doesn't have to stress anymore, "Mind if I bring some friends up?"

She's reluctant at first, but his disarming smile wins the day again, allowing him to motion for Dusty to help everyone else up into the room. Caryn first, then Salem, and finally Amii is gently hoisted up, the redhead biting on a piece of plastic from her tactical harness to keep from screaming in pain. When everyone is safe and situated, Tawny secretly signals Dusty to remain downstairs, but keep an ear open.

11

_He must have found one of the Mothers… This will cause a huge crimp in the plan… What does she remember? Does she know what the clones look like?_ Dusty paces underneath, taking great care to be as silent and attentive as possible, listening intently to the conversation going on overhead.

The Genesis Clones all knew of the surrogates, but never met them. It was some form of control over the women, not letting them see what they were creating. The whole story stank to high heaven when he was first told it, only bits and pieces having progressed through from Four's transition into Dusty. Even though they've never met, Dusty is sure the Surrogates can feel who the clone is.

_Of course she does, how else would she know a clone was nearby when Tawny went up?_ This is another in a long string of questions plaguing the clone's mind.

The conversation continues above, but the topics are not peaking his interest, all just data on the type of treatment the women are getting, where they are kept, how many… The brunette stops in the middle of his fifteenth lap around the room, a nasty thought creeping into his conscience.

_No, I can't kill them; they deserve to live more than I do._

11

_My god, what kind of people can do this to defenseless women?_ Amii sits in horror at the details of this woman's stay here.

"It was brutal… To break our wills, the soldiers were allowed to torture, rape, maim us… But this was stopped after around oh… The number they said was I think sixty percent of their subjects killing themselves. But that's not true.. Many of us were begged to kill them. They wanted to die, but had no will to do it themselves."

"How many are yo-" she holds up a hand to silence Salem.

The woman sighs heavily and pulls up the sleeve on her left arm, revealing a series of long, deep cuts, "I stopped counting at forty-five…"

Tawny steps up to examine the mutilations, "How did these not kill you?"

She laughs loudly, startling them all, "You think all their viruses kill!? No, they perfected Fusion… Methanine is what they call it.. It repairs the damage done, but at a great cost… You NEED it to survive… If not, it actually begins to break your body down… It goes from Fusion, to Fission…"

"And you know this how?" Amii is taking notes on this matter.

Suddenly the woman stands up, raising the bottom of her shirt, revealing a device slowly pumping a mysterious liquid into her abdomen, "Because I am cursed to forever need it."

She draws her weapon and fires as Dusty jumps through the hole, "Are the other Surrogates dependent on Methanine?"

"You're one of the clones. But you're not at all how I expected you to be," the weapon is lowered.

"This persona you see before you, ma'am, is one that has been perverted and used against everything he has known and taught.. I humbly apologize for what has befallen you as a result of what was done to me and the person I originally was. But please, help me understand what the Surrogates are."

_What in the hell?_ Amii is taken aback by the sudden change in her father's demeanor. But she remains silent as the two begin to chat, trading info back and forth about things none of the younger members can understand just yet. Everyone is taken by surprise as the woman hugs Dusty tightly, crying into his shoulder.

The clone slowly pats her back, letting her cry as his eyes lock with Amii's, "You know what needs to be done right?"

Amii nods, her red hair flipping back and forth as she barks orders to Tawny, Salem, and Caryn, all of them nodding and rummaging through the cases for weapons and ammunition.

"What are we to call you?" the brunette slowly seats the woman back down on the empty ammo crate.

"Well, given the fact none of us remember our real names, the only true tie to humanity we could hold on to was naming each other…. The name they agreed to give me was Barbette. So nice to see the clones are not the evil I thought they were going to be…"

His face darkens, "Actually I'm the only one that hasn't tried to kill an innocent… One of them happens to be the sadistic personality of Dusty, and the other that is left is the psychotic personality… I'm not sure of the extent of the SPD that clone has, if he can actually become this clone and the sadism of the other one…"

"Yes," Barbette smiles up at him, her dry lips cracking, "he actually has the capacity for both good and evil…"

11

"How do you know this?" Dusty is surprised at how much of his attention Barbette is able to hold.

"Anyone involved with Project Genesis was not allowed to leave the facility… The only people we were allowed to communicate with, was indeed anyone connected to this program… After a while, Confidentiality Agreements went out the window.. Soon after that, we all were equally qualified to work on this program, as none of us were expected to live after our third child…"

"Third child? Exactly how many Surrogates are there? And how many children were actually born into the Genesis Program?"

He watches her calculate, then she sighs, "Last known head total was I think around thirty-two women.. Each of us had at least three children… Occasionally one or two of them had a fourth… But Augustine had ordered the soldiers to kill those that did, and the children."

"So that makes ninety-six Genesis Children?" this number is staggering to him, that many clones roaming around just is unthinkable.

He knows now what he has to do; he pats Barbette's knee and smiles at her, "We are getting you and the other Surrogates out of here."

She smiles wide and hugs him again, "And the children?"

His face darkens, and she shakes her head, "No… You can't.. They're just children!"

"Barbette, you must understand this… The moment they were injected with the Genesis-strain, they lost their humanity. I know they're children… But do you really see how inhumane it is to let those tortured souls live?"

"How can you be so cold!?" her shriek disrupts the others, all eyes on Barbette now.

"It's not being cold. It's doing a service.. At the end of this, I plan to kill myself as well. Cause as long as any one speck of Umbrella's work is left alive, this nightmare cannot end."

_God this is not the decision I want to have to make…_

"Well what about the Surrogates? Methanine IS Fusion, in case you forgot already…"

**END**


End file.
